Christmas at Our House

Christmas Dinner - Not nearly the dinner we're used to having. Usually we have to put the grand kids at their own table cause the main table is full of our kids and their significant others. Although we miss em dearly, we realize they have their own lives to live and we carry on. Simple but still excellent - thanks all to Cathy for her skill in the kitchen. I've even started gaining too much weight and plan on starting a bit of a diet ---after the holidays, that is. We truly hope all of our family and friends have a safe and happy Christmas and a safe and prosperous New Year.

Its beginning to feel a lot like Christmas

Well our furnace is fixed. They came yesterday afternoon and installed th new part just in time for the cold weather that we are expecting. They still think that it will snow on Christmas day. Its really nice to have the whole house warm again. I couldn't get my crafts finished because the other rooms were so cold. And working out in the main area with the cats getting into everything forget it! Still have more sewing to do for the new grandaughter. I see her on the web cam all the time. She sure is a chubby little thing with lotz of hair. She will be 2 months old on the 27th and I am dying to see her and hold her! Sigh!

Got my baking finished today. We only have 2 close neighbors so I baked chocolate chip cookies and lemon bars and made them a couple of towels and crocheted little Christmas stocking ornaments and a small Victorisn Christmas tree. After the holidays there will be no more sweets in the house! Ha! We plan to diet!

Made all the cats a little cat nip toy even the stray that is outside. Hope they will all tire themselves out tonight and stop running around the house. They get pretty noisey almost like having kids in the house! Ha!

Its hard to believe that Christmas is less than 3 days away. It came up on me so fast this year. Last year we were getting ready for the move to TN. Don't want to move for a long, long time!

Well its time to make my delivery of the goody bag. Hope everyone has a wonderfull Christmas and New Years.

White Christmas

Weather man is predicting snow on Christmas day and one other day. Its going to feel like Christmas this year!

We finally got in the hot tub tonight after it being to cold and then we had the snow. Sure felt good. Its about 33 degree's right now may go down into the 20's tonight. We are still waiting for the heating/airconditoning guy to call and tell us he got the part for the heating system. We had to close off the other 3 rooms so the wall heater could at least keep the chill off somewhat. Our bedroom and bathroom are cold though. Thank heavens for electric blankets! I have to wait to take a shower in the morning after it warms up somewhat.

The kids and grandchildren got their packages in time. I was just waiting for the Penneys package to get there and that was delivered yesterday. My daughter will have to wrap up the stuff for the girls. I had sent 2 other boxes of wrapped stuff. Didn't do much this year everything seems to cost so much so we had to cut back.

This year has really flown by its hard to believe we have been here nearly a year (Jan.). Best move we ever made.

Hope everyone has a wonderfull Christmas and New Years.

First Dusting of Snow

A little early (Dec 16th) but who cares, it's our first snow. Only a dusting but we're hoping for a white Christmas.

White Stuff

Well the weather has taken a turn for winter. Its suppose to start raining tonight and turn to snow. Suppose to get 1-2 inches. If it does snow, will put a picture on the blog for those of you that haven't seen snow in awhile. My grandaughters can't wait to see snow. Hope they do fly up in Jan. better chance of some snow then.

This has not been a fun weekend. Last night we discovered that the furnace wasn't working when it was 65 degree's in the house and the thermastate was set on 70! There is a separate unit on the wall in the dining room that we fired off last night (it doesn't heat the whole house) and our bedroom was cold. Brrrr! Luckily, we have an electric blanket on the bed. The guy came today and checked it out and said that the maker of the unit extended the warrenty from 5 to 10 years on the unit because of some part that rusts out (now the part is being made of stainless still instead of galvanized steel). Well the 10 years is up sept of next year thank God. So instead of $1,100 repair its $350! Merry Christmas! So he has to order the part which should come by Thurs. so I guess we will wear extra clothing etc. till then. We have propane heat and I don't know if this other unit will use up the propane faster than if we used the regular furnace. And to think I wanted to remove this extra unit that is attached to the wall in the dining area! Definately will stay now. Guess the former owner put this in case there was a power outage or something so they would still have heat. They do have ice storms up here. We may want to invest in a couple of electric heaters!

We are ready for Christmas but its so weird being alone at Christmas. Its always been the kids and later the grandchildren. I have been baking cookies to give to our neigbor. I had to bake extra today as Chuck was eating up the cookies! Ha! I made lemon bars, peanut butter cookies, chocolate chip and pumpkin bread. I made a batch of what was suppose to be peanut butter cookies and forgot to put in the peanut butter! Guess it was a Sr. moment! Smile! Chuck is eating them says they are like sugar cookies just have brown sugar as well as white sugar in them. Today is a good day for soup so I made a big pot of vegetable beef soup and a pot of beef stew. I can freeze whats left of the vegetable soup for another time. We will probably eat soup tomorrow as well. Its hard to get used to cooking for two after cooking for 5 or more all the time!

Foggy Top Tennessee

The weather here has been kinda crazy lately. It maybe in the 30's when we first get up and by late morning it's in the 50's. Then within a couple of hours we're on our way back to the 30's. Sometimes it's drizzling rain, then sometimes it may be spitting snow. Can't seem to make up its mind. At any rate we spent yesterday in Cookeville Christmas shopping. Finally got it all done so now we can relax and let the holidays roll on. Shopping doesn't seem to be as much fun as it used to. What's up with that? Seems like the holidays just keep getting more commercialized and it's all about money. Oh, well! Life goes on.

Jim's House

Chuck and I finally finished boarding up Jim's stall. It took a couple of days to get it done. Rough cut lumber is kinda heavy and, this being red oak, sometimes it's hard to drive a nail into. We cut windows in the east and south sides to let in sunlight. Jim uses them to keep an eye on us, especially at feeding time. There's a full size door opening on the north side and the eight inch deep sawdust floor helps keep it warm inside. In the future, we intend to finish the 24' x 60' farrow shed that his stall is attached to. Chuck has to level out the roof from the inside by lifting the rafters a bit. Once that's done, we'll put on a new steel roof, then finish the outside with the same rough cut lumber that is on Jim's stall. The building already had electric/water and a sewer line installed, we just need to finish it out. All in due time as the money comes available.

Christmas at Our House

Just took this pic today of the outside of our house. Not sure if we'll do anymore decorating on the outside yet. Got the tree up and the inside all spiffied up and the cats are having a ball. We keep picking up decorations off the floor when we get home. Guess we'll have to start locking them up or out on the back porch when we leave from now on.

Good Bye Beautiful fall

Well, all the leaves are about off the trees now and the only green is the pine. We are able to see stuff that we didn't know was there. Could see a pond down the mountain from our back porch. It hasn't gotten above 50 today but warmer than yesterday. Yesterday it didn't go over 34 degrees. We worked on Jims stall and got the walls up on 2 sides, finished the one side today. Chuck had to finish putting the sawdust in the stall before we closed it in. We went to a mill and bought ruff cut lumber same as our house is built out of. The gal that built this house the Dad cut the trees from their property and took it to the mill to be made into lumber. Thus the rustic look. We will have to stain the wood in the Spring to match the house. Next big project is to redo the cement block building. It wasn't built very well and the roof shingles are in bad shape. We plan to put a green metal roof on it to match the house it will last so much longer than shingles. With the wind up here and the sun beating down on it in the summer and the cold weather and snow in the winter the shingle roofs don't last very long. Everyone up here has metal roofs.

We had a quiet Thanksgiving dinner this was a first being alone we have always had the kids and grandchildren over. And when Chuck was in the Navy we always invited single guys or gals over for dinner. We don't really know many people here as yet. Its really hard to cook for just 2 people now. We are hoping that Kristy and the girls will change their mind and spend Christmas here. We would have to go get them and bring them back though. And with gas being so high, it would be costly.

It won't be long and it will be time to decorate for Christmas. We will probably decorate next weekend. Hope to get some Christmas shopping done on the 7th when we go to Cookville. We only have the dollar store and walmart in Jamestown everything else is in Cookville. The malls are closer to Knoxville or Nashville and they are about a 2 hour drive for us. We do have a small outlet store in Crossville so will see what they have there when we go to Crossville on the 3rd.

Winter has arrived

Well I do think that winter has arrived! Yesterday around 2 pm I was taking the horse his bucket of hay cubes and it was acually spitting snow! Chuck has been working out in the cold all week and said it was spitting snow where he was to (he is working about 45 minutes from here). Instead of getting warmer yesterday, the temp kept dropping all day. It was very windy and made it especially cold out. I think it got down in the 20's last night! BRRRR! Guess I can finally pack away my shorts! Smile! We have had beautiful weather and the delay in the cold means that we have used the heat less. Who knows what the price of propane will be with the gas prices going up and up($2.99 here yesterday) . I try to conserve my gas in the truck by not making too many trips to town (its 24 miles or so round trip) and I try to only go to town once or twice a week. I usually go on Sunday and take the trash to the drop-off site and run my errands. This weekend I will have to go in town to get the fresh veggies for Thanksgiving dinner. This is the first year that we will be alone for the holidays without the kids and grandchildren and its kinda depressing. Really feeling the empty nest syndrome this year. Christmas will be worse. I got a small turkey without the legs and wings but it still looks like to much. I don't know how to cook for 2 people! Smile.

Another stray cat showed up and is sleeping on the porch. He wasn't used to people but is letting us pick him up. Trying to get him to trust us so we can get him in a cage and to the no kill shelter. We certainly don't need anymore cats! We put a small dog house on the deck and put and old quilt in it and he has been sleeping in it. We named him Flash as when he first started showing up on the front porch, he would be gone in a flash as soon as he saw us!

Chuck just left for work about 30 minutes ago. Should be a short day today as he is just doing some work for his former boss from FL. He still has a fencing job to finish up next week for Brians friend and neighbor. Its a board fence and time consuming. The extra money will certainly come in handy now with Christmas coming up. We hope to do our Christmas shopping next month in Cookville. I'm afraid it will be a slim Christmas this year. Chuck wants to put the tree up after Thanksgiving but I want to wait until the 1st of Dec. I know that I will have to fight with the cats as I know that they will be messing with the tree especially the kittens. They do like to climb it to. The older cats won't mess with it. Chuck wants to decorate the outside this year too. All of our stuff was in storage for over a year so we didn't bother decorating much and just borrowed a tree from Kristy.

Well its time to get my house cleaned and finish the Christmas dress for the newest Grandaughter. I finally got some pictures of her and the other 2 girls. Oldest daughter in Orlando went to see them last weekend and took digital photo's. Even some of our son.

Everyone have a wonderfull Thanksgiving.

Fall in the Tennessee Mountains

Well, I guess you can say fall is definately here. The last couple of days our nighttime temps have been in the high 20's and daytime high is in the mid-high 60's. The colors are much more noticeable now and some of the trees are starting to look bare. It's crisp and cool and that hot tub feels real good as long as you are in the water but BOY when you get out you'd better be ready to hitail it into the house. Chuck will get to work a bit this week which will pay for the wood to finish Jim's shelter. Jim's just too old to be left out in the winter wind, rain and snow.

A visit to Muddy Pond

We recently visited the Mennonite settlement of Muddy Pond and wanted to share some of the photos we took of molasses being made. This guy was feeding the sorghum stalks into the crusher while the horses provided the power to do the crushing. As the stalks are crushed, the sap drains out into the burlap covered blue barrel. The burlap is the first strainer in the process. The crushed stalks, laying next to the barrel, are used as silage feed for the cattle they raise. Nothing goes to waste.

Molasses on the run

The barrel of sap from the sorghum is emptied into the heated run where it is literally pulled through the maze with a hoe-like tool. By the time the heated sorghum reaches the end of the run it is the right color and consistancy for sale. They strain the molasses again and pour it off into different size bottles and jars for sale to the public.

The tree's are really starting to change colors and it won't be long and all the leaves will be off the trees's. We are having much cooler weather with daytime temps in the low 60's and nightime in the low 30's to low 40's. Tueday and Wednesday the high will be 71 but it could change. No more rain predicted. I just wish that the sun would shine so we could get more pictures of the leaves.

Kristy had a 7lb4oz baby girl born around 3:00am Sat. morning. Jynna her 11 year old called and left an message around 11:30 pm saying they were at the hospital. Guess Kristy was only in labor about 4 hours. The baby was due on Sunday. She was suppose to go home today. The hospitals don't keep them very long now a days. I am still busy sewing baby clothes mostly for sleeping. The girls got to stay in the birthday room and be part of everything. Times have changed.

We spent the morning trying to rearrange the livingroom. With an open floor plan and our big furniture its tuff. Will work on our bedroom tomorrow. Not a lot happening here right now so will sign off.

My Dog

This is Midnight, my dog. Never had a cat follow me around like this guy does. When I go hunting for arrow heads, he follows me out and back. He stays with me the whole way and when I sit down to rest along the way, he lays down next to me. He comes when I call and is a very affectionate cat. He's more like a dog than a cat.

Passing Clouds

The weather has really changed in the last two days. We have gone from unseasonably warm and dry to seasonally cool and wet as these photos show. Our noon time temp is 68 and its been raining off and on since about 4AM. The clouds are really low and moving across our mountain range. They're almost low enough to touch.

More and More Color Moving In

Felines Galore

Just a couple more of the eight cats we have roaming around. We kinda got adopted by an instant cat family that lived here before we did but we don't want to just abandon them to the elements, So we gots a few more now. The top left pic shows the three amigos and our original Florida cats. Lucky in the middle, with Patches at the top and Tommy the Tiger just below Lucky..
The next pic, on the left is of Bandit, who is very aptly named. If it's missing, broken, or moved Bandit dit it.

The Next pic is of one of our new kittens, Smokey. A very lively, shy but loveable 6 month old kitten. We have her uncle, Midnight, who is completely black around here along with Smokey's mom, Penny and Smokey's sister, Freckles. Can't find them right now but I'll get some pics of the later.

A REAL POUND PURRIE

Our oldest and favoritest cat is Lucky, or as our son, Stephen calls him, Little Man. Our dog found a very small kitten in our front yard and carried him to us in her mouth. Hence the name Lucky. Lucky weighs in around 18 lbs and spends most of his day sleeping on the foot of our bed usually with a few of our other felines.

The folliage is just starting to turn here on the mountain as you can see. It should get a lot more colorful in about a week, especially if the cooler weather continues.

Fall Changes

The fall colors are starting to set in here on the mountain. Farther down the mountain the colors are almost in full swing and are really pretty. Everything is getting ready for the colder weather and winter hibernation (Toad in top pic). We'll get some full folliage pics off the back porch as soon as the weather clears. It's overcast and raining right now and we really need the rain. Tennessee is about 16 inches behind the annual norm for this year. We're in a severe drought. We went to Muddy Pond today to do some seasonal shopping and visited a sorghum mill, where they process the cane into syrup. Will post some pics of that excursion as soon as we get them back. Like a dummy, I didn't take the digital camera so we have to wait for developing.

Cathy's Christmas Present

We been talking about trading in our 2003 heavy duty chevy diesal truck on something a bit smaller and hopefully more economical. Also we really don't need all that horsepower any longer for towing. So we swapped our 2003 truck for a new chevy crew cab 4x4 with a 4.8L v8. Except for the truck bed, which is only 5.5' long, we have more interior room and a smaller engine with better gas mileage, and gas is a little cheaper than diesel. This will also be better transportation if Kristy and the girls come up for a Christmas visit. Chuck and I will drive to Florida to bring them up here and take them back when the girls have their Christmas school vacation. We were able to get this truck for the same monthly payment that we had on the old 2003 diesel and when we transfer the loan back over to Navy Federal Credit Union, they will lower the interest 2 whole percentage points which will mean that our monthly payment will be considerably lower. Back in 2004 we bought a new chevy truck with GMAC just to get the $1,000 extra rebate, then transfered the loan to NFCU before we even made one payment. Then NFCU gave us $200 for transfering our loan to them.

We had started putting money into the 2003 truck and had just spent $415 on front end and brakes plus something else in the front end was going wrong. So we are glad not to have the expense anymore until the warranty is off on this one. Of course the resale or trade in is much better on diesel trucks than gas trucks. I guess we are always going to have a car payment!

We finally got the water balanced in the hot tub after having to put about 6 different chemicals in it. When we go to Cookville at the beginning of every month we will bring in a water sample for testing. It shouldn't get to bad as the cover is on all t he time unlike a pool and the maintenance and cleaner will be much easier than a pool. We had a pool for about 15 years and it just got to be to much work for us.

All the cats are well now so its time to take the 2 kittens in to be spade and get their rabies shots. I will have to call around and see who has funding to do the surgery for free.

Last week was our week to run around I am ready to just stay home and rest and read a good book or sew. I made some burp pads for the baby and will have to mail our a package this week. I also found 2 little pair of jeans for the baby in 12 month size. Kristy will be surprised. She got one of the packages I sent on Wed. with the receiving blankets and outfits but not the one with the 2 baby afgans and outfits. The girls are getting excited about a new sister now watch it be a boy! Sonograms have been known to be wrong!

Well its time to catch up on my housework can't put it off any longer. Cooler weather will be here on Thursday with a high of 74 degrees. Today feels a bit warm.

Soakin' It Up

AT LAST!!! I'm finally enjoying my hot tub and the first time we used it, we were under a beautiful starlit night with an orange harvest moon in the eastern sky. What a wonderful way to relax and while away the aches and pains of the day. It was the most relaxing hour we spent. Plan on get ting in again tonight. Don't know why we didn't get one of these a long time ago!

Cathy's New Foot Massager!!

WELL NOW!!!! Chuck finally finished the hookup and got the spa running. Hurrraay!!! It took a lot to run the wiring but he did it. He had run 220 before for a dryer but not the GFI which is a safety needed to shut the hot tub down in case something happens to it. We can sit in the tub and enjoy the most beautiful view.

Now its a matter of waiting until the temp is up to 100 to 102 degrees. Last I checked it was 88 degrees. When we go to Crossville on Monday will see if there is a place that sells pools and hot tub supplies. Otherwise will get a start-up kit at the hot tub place in Cookville on Thursday. Chuck still has to put the railing back up but we need to get a ladder. Can't get to it from the inside since the hot tub is so close. It may not have been the ideal place to set the hot tub.

We had some cool weather last night down to about 52 degrees but it was beautiful today nice breeze blowing and sun shining I doubt it made it to 80 degrees. Its already cooling down out there. I do not miss the hot FL climate!. Some of the trees are starting to change colors I can't wait to see the leaves all turn. Its been to many years since I have seen the leaves change. And the leaves are starting to fall but that could be due to the summer drought. Won't be long now until its time to put the electric blanket on the bed. I know that this house is going to be a lot warmer than the 2 rental houses that we were in as it seems to be well insulated. Doesn't have large windows or a lot of windows.

Next project to get done before winter is to build a shelter for our old horse. Got all the material for the framing but have to go on Tuesday to get the metal roofing and the ruff cut lumber at the saw mill in KY. Its much cheaper to buy the lumber from a saw mill if you don't need finished lumber and the sales tax is only 6% there here its 9.5 %.

Chuck just put a new chandelier in the dining room. Found a really pretty one at this discount store in Jamestown. Its where we buy other lumber and stuff that we need. I guess this store gets all the discontinued item from the other stores that they have and sell the stuff at a discount. I found lotz of stuff that I would like to get for the house later on. I am a bargain hunter at heart and always looking for the best deal.

All the cats are well now just have the last one on medication for a couple of more days. Our 4 house cats never got sick just the 4 stray cats. Guess their immune system isn't good.

Well I am going to check and see if the water is warm enough in the hot tub and soak and relax for awhile.

Fall is Here

Well its suppose to be Fall and I am still waiting for the cooler weater. Its been in the low 90's the last couple of days and is suppose to cool to the low 80's starting tomorrow. Humidity is low to like about 26%. I think it is suppose to rain on Thursday an we sure need it. Did get a little shower the other night.

Chuck came home 2 days in a row covered in grease (Ugh!) after helping the neighbor fix his bull dozer. Its been leaking hyrolic fluid for 2 years so Joe just keeps putting the fluid in. He's a big man and can't get down and get under the dozer to see whats wrong. So Chuck did and found the leak. All it was, was an .89 bolt. So Chuck went over today and got the bolt on it and its fixed. Joe tried to pay Chuck, but Chuck reminded Joe that he came over and mowed the 3 acre field for us. I guess this is called bartering. Works for us.

We are heading to town to buy the wire for the hot tub and GFI and materials to build the horse a shelter before winter. We will have to drive over the other side of the mountain to get the steel for the roof. Want to get this done before the cold weather sets in. Most of the locals leave their horses out but Jim is 35 years old with an arthritis problem so we try to baby him. We have had him since about 1993 so he is a member of the family. We have him out in the yard now to munch on the grass. He seems to get something out of it because he is gaining weight. He was losing weight running up and down the fence line chasing the female horse in the field next to ours. So the neighbor moved the horse. Guess he noticed Jim was losing weight.

Well I'm off to the big city! Ha!

COMING SOON TO OUR HOUSE!

We got a call last week about setting up for the delivery of our Hot Tub. Roadway delivered it this afternoon. When we ordered it thru the Army/Airforce Exchange online they said that it could only be delivered to the end of our driveway or garage. But the driver had a Penske truck with a lift and said that it would be easier to back up to the deck and slid it off onto the deck. Chuck had already taken the railing off and was working on redoing it. We couldn't believe that the driver would do this. He said that what "good ole boys" do. Here we thought that we would have to wait for Brian to bring his skid loader over to do this. Now all Chuck has to do is run the 220 electric and the GFI in the breaker box and we just need to get the chemicals for it and fill it with water. Can't wait! The weather is getting cooler in the evenings to enjoy the hot tub.

Sunday Chuck talked me into going arrow hunting with him. Little did I know that we would walk up and down hills and walk about 2.5 miles! To much for the first time out walking for over a month! I will have to take pictures the next time we go so everyone can see how steep the hills are here. The last hill we walked up was tuff and I kept watching for the big black bull! I had to take a hot bath when we got home as my calfs and knee's were really hurting. Now I can just jump in the hot tub and really relax afterwards. We finally did something for ourselves instead of for the kids!

Tomorrow the neighbor is coming over with his tractor to mow Jim's field. It really is high and will look better plus next year he will have a lot of good grass and clover to eat. We still soak alflaf cubes for him and will increase the amount in winter. Its hard to keep the weight on such an old horse but he is doing better since they moved they female horse to another field. Jim has worn a path all along the fence line walking back and forth chasing after her!

Well I want to get back to crocheting the kitty pattern baby afgan. Next week I plan to buy some flannel material and make a bunch of receiving blankets. Walmart has a nice selection of flannel at $1 a yard in pretty prints and pastels. The Grandbaby (suppose to be a girl) is due Oct. 28th so I don't have a lot of time left. I have already made her 2 afgans and a quilt. Love sewing for little girls. Glad that I kept all my patterns from making clothes for the other 2 grandaughters. The like me to make their Halloween custumes to. Last year Kaylee was a Geisha girl. I even found her a wig at Target. She looked so cute.

Mountain Walk

The weather is absolutely beautiful here. Is such a relief to get rid of that hot weather. It was only in the 40's last night and today I opened the windows. I doubt that we will have to use the airconditioner anymore till next summer.

We took off out back down the mountain looking for arrowheads today. Chuck knows better what to look for than I do. We had some heavy rain last week so he thought that he might be able to find some arrowheads. No luck. Its really tuff walking on the hills some are pretty steep. We followed a logging road thru the woods all the way around and came back on another road. Our neighbor across the way owns acres and acres and said we could go walking on his property. His brother has his cows on the property and I wasn't to crazy about running into the black bull. Chuck tells me afterwood that the bull came after him! All we saw were the cows and calfs. My legs are killing me from climbing the hills I have arthritis in one knee and it really gives me a fit. I think the knee hurt worse going down hill then up hill though. Chuck took some pictures of the view and one of this old 1950's school bus that they used in this area before the school buses came out this way. Its been there so long that a tree has grown up thru it. The views of the surrounding area were so beautifull we can see clear into KY on a clear day. When its not hot we have a much nicer view. I think the leaves are starting to change already to I found some beautifull red maple leaf. Its been so many years since I have seen the change of seasons it will be nice.

Well its about time to fill the butane tank for our winter heat. We ordered ours already while the price is low. Since we are a new customer we get the first 400 gal at $1.59 a gallon and the rest at $1.79 a gallon. Later it will be $2.09 a gallon. Heating bills can get quite expensive but I think this house is well insulated. The last 2 houses that we rented were not very well insulated. I guess it could be worse electric heat is probably much more. Our highest electric bill since we moved in was last month when we had the 100+ degrees and it was $112. Now in FL it probably would have been over $250. I don't miss the high electric bills.

Well its time to get the foot fixer out and soak my sore feet!

Morning Fog

This photo was taken thisat 0700 this morn off our back porch. The temp was around 54 and the ground fog was just starting to lift.

Chuck took this picture this morning. The flog was really beautiful. He got up early to go to work and his boss called and said that he decided not to work today but to go horsebackriding. Hopefully, Chuck will work tomorrow.

What beautiful weather we are having. Its been in the high 50's at night and loe 80's during the day. We got more badly needed rain yesterday. My kind of weather! Only 29% humidity. The view is much clearer of the mountains now that its not hot. Can't wait to see what the fall view will look like. We can see all the way to Ky from our back porch. I love my mountain home! Couldn't ask for a better place to live.

Haven't seen any deer out back in awhile I guess its been to hot for them. We should start seeing them more. There is a racoon that comes around just as the sun is setting and he goes over and eats any horse food that Jim drops. He used to come up on the porch and eat the cat food we left for the stray cats. Chuck has a hummingbird feeder just off the deck we keep it filled with sugar water for them. Its funny to see them fight over the feeder. Ther must be 8-10 of them. Haven't seen many lately so they may have started migrating south for the winter.

Had to put the older cats out on the porch. The 2 kittens are sick with an upper respiratory. I hope none of the other caught it. First Smokie got it we took her to the vet yesterday they gace her a shot and antibiotic to take. Now her litter mate is sick so they told us to give her the medication to. They are sneezing and eyes and nose watering. Hope they get well soon. The older cats think that they are being punished! Smile!

Talked to the oldest daughter last week and she has seen the Oncologist and the cancer is in the first stage. I told her to the sooner the better she start treatment. She turns 37 the 14th and said "What a birthday present!"

Well I want to get back to this baby afgan that I am crocheting for the younger daughter. I am having a problem with the pattern so I will have to work on it till I get it right. Baby is due the end of Oct. suppose to be a girl according to the sonogram.

Marked Bolders

These are marks that I found on some bolders overlooking a creekbed. At first I thought they might be cable marks from some of the logging that was done in this area. But when I talked with Joe, the one who has done all the logging he said the marks weren't from logging. I can assume they were man made and since there were so many of them, I would guess that since these bolders are soft like sandstone, maybe the marks were made from scraping spear shafts back and forth to clean and shape them. They're all uniform in size. Who knows?

My Latest Finds

These are some of the projectile points that I have found on and around our property. They vary from arrow heads used to hunt birds and small game to the larger knife and broken hatchet head (upper right corner). The small item 2nd from the top on the right hand side is a shaper that was used to smooth the shafts of arrows. This is one of my favorite past time hobbies. I've learned a lot about early man's history (5000-8000BC). Very few if any of these points date from our more modern indians of 200 years ago.

Trip to Cookville

We drove to Cookville today. Chuck goes to the blood bank and donates platelets for cancer patients. I think they may also use them for Aides patients as well. When he donated in FL if you had someone who needed platelets, you could donate in their name. Just had to give the blood bank their name and what facility they were receiving treatment at. I think he did this for 2 people we knew. The patient doesn't get charged for the platelets this way. This place Chuck donates to in Cookville doesn't do this but said that they would send her a check for whatever the normal charge is to the person. Will see how that works if lisa needs platelets.

I went to Penneys to get my haircut while Chuck was donating then walked around and checked out the sales. Bougt 2 baby outfits and 2 baby t-shirts. In addition to the clearance price I had a coupon for an extra 15% off so only paid $6 for all 4 pieces! Wish that had more but I think last weekend was their big clearance sale. We also stopped at Sams and bought a few things thats our closest Sams.

Chuck and I were talking about Lisa today and its ovarian cancer that they think she has not breast cancer as I thought. I just hope that they can get it in time. We are waiting to hear back from her as to what is going on.

Shopping in KY

Yesterday we took a shopping trip to KY. We are only about 12 miles or so from the state line. Its a real pretty drive are mountain 2 lane back roads. We went to the Walmart Supercenter in Monticello. Our friends said that the sales tax is lower there and it is, 6% compared to our 9.5%. We also didn't have to pay sales tax on food as we do here. Its 8.5% state and 1% county tax. That ads up when you buy a months worth of groceries. The prices weren't any cheaper but the selection compared to our Walmart Supercenter that we shop at in Jamestown, is better in KY. While there we got the oil change done on the truck and saved a little on what we would normally pay in sales tax. KY is really rural and not much popuation until we got to Monticello. We enjoyed the 45 minute ride anyway and I would like to do this again. The had a Kroger grocery store nearby that is my favorite store. Their bakery stuff is almost as good as Publix. I like their fresh bread and rolls you brown it for10 minutes in the oven. The french bread and sour dough bread is really good. I want to try the 5 grain bread when I go there on Monday to Crossville. The nearest Kroger is an hour and 15 minutes away. We like to go to the day old bakery when we go and I like to go to Big Lots and Krogers. There is also a winery in Crossville. We occassionally buy a bottle or two when its in the budget.

Chuck has finished re-inforcing the deck where we will put the Hot Tub. We should get it in about 2 weeks or so. Chuck is going to offer the delivery guy $50 and see if he would put it up on the deck with the fork lift. I doubt that they will do it as it says they deliver to the beginning of your driveway or put in your garage. The next project is building the horse a shelter before winter gets here.

This weekend Chuck refinished our oak coffee table that got wet on the way up here from FL in Janurary. We used the horse trailer to transport about half our furniture and a bunch of boxes and wouldn't you know that it would rain! The upper sides of the trailer are open for ventilation. Anyway it looks as good as new. He stained the folding door we bought for our bathroom. I don't know why they didn't put a door on the master bathroom. You have to shut the bedroom door if you want privacy. We just used wood closet bifold doors and Chuck put a handle on both sides of the door. It works.

No more 100 degree's temps but its been a little more humid and in the mid to upper 90's. We did have it go down to 59 one night but usually its in the low 60's. I am ready for fall. Don't now how the allergies will be here as we have ragweed in the pasture. So I will see if I am allergic to it.

Got some bad news concerning our oldest daughter. They think she may breast cancer. She will be 37 this month. Waiting to hear how her visit to the oncologist goes as to how bad it is. I keep hoping that its just a cyst but it doesn't sound to hopefull. She has no medical insurance so the hospitol told her to apply for financial assistance with her medical bills. Glad they have some help. She lives in Orlando, FL. We need some prayers for Lisa.

By next weekend the temps will be in the mid to low 80's and 10% humidity with lows in the high 50s to low 60s! Whew ! I have had enough of this heat and am certainly ready for fall!

Surprise! Surprise! We finally got some much needed rain about 10:30 pm and did it rain. CHucks motorcycle got knocked over and a couple things broken and all his gas ran out! Must have had some wind. He usually keeps it on the front porch but was riding it last week. The grass is fianlly greening up and Chuck is out mowing the weeds that popped up. Won't have to mow much longer if it contiues to cool off.

Yesterday made my once a week trip to town to take trash to the drop off center then to Walmart and a couple other places. The gas and diesel prices are fianlly dropping hope it lasts. We have been trying to be conservative mainly because before the end of the month we are out of money! Still job hunting yesterday I filled out an application at the school board maybe something will come up. I really don't want to substitute teach though so hopefully something office will come up.

Well I must finish my laundry that I didn't do yesterday.

Heat Wave!

Another hot day today was suppose to get up to 103 degrees today. The humidity must have been higher today because I really felt the heat today. We would have stayed home but Chuck broke a filling last week and had to get it fixed. The dentist couldn't fill it so put a metal crown in. Its covered under our dental insurance that we have thru the military retirement. Just a $50 deductable and 20% of the cost of the crown. Chuck thinks that the crown cost $144 or so. The porcelain crowns are over $600 and that would cost us half the amount.

We stopped at the vegetable stand and they hardly had any veggies. With the drought going on I don't think the veggie crops were very good. I know that the cost of hay rolls will skyrocket due to the drought. Our old guy eats soaked hay cubes which we buy at the feed store. He only has 2 molars so can't chew very well. Speaking of "Jim" the mare in the field next to Jim is in season and is driving him nuts! He runs up and down the fence line and sometimes won't come and eat his breakfast and dinner. Guess you are never to old! Ha! He is losing weight so will have to increase his feed that means buying more than the 5-50 lb bags of feed we buy once a month. Chuck is planning on fencing in the front and backyard area and keep him away from her. The owners of the horses also have cattle and they rotate them so hopefully they will move her soon.

I didn't get the job that I interviewed for 2 weeks ago I have a feeling that they felt that I was overqualified or they just hired a local. I did go to the school board office and fill out my app for a job. I guess I could always substitute teach but I am not sure that I want to do that. I decided to go back to college and finish my AA if I can qualify for financial aid. I already have my AS in Office Systems but would like to either take the necessary classes for the AA or take some legal classes for the legal assistant or legal secretary. I think that they offer a couple of legal classes at the campus in Jamestown. I am also looking for a Web Design class. The campus in Jamestown is very small and they operate out of portables. There is another campus in Livingston, I will have to see how far they are from here.

Finally heard from Kristy today we were at the library in town when she called my cell. I wanted to find out how the girls first week of school was going. Jynna has to be up at 5:45 am and catch the bus at 6:30am to go to middle school (she is in 6th grade). Kristy had to put her in a different school since the other one closer is so bad and their students scored very low in testing. Kaylee still goes to the same grade school and is in 4th grade this year. Kristy said Kaylee had a real growth spurt over the summer and she needs bigger uniforms. Hopefully, she can wear some of Jynna's old uniforms. Jynna doesn't have tolwear uniforms this year.

Chuck is into arrowheads and has found some on our property and down in the woods and has been researching them. So we went to the library to look for a couple of books on arrowheads. Since they are reference books, he couldn't bring them home. I plan to research the history of our area.

The temps are suppose to drop over the weekend to like 92 degree's I hope that it doesn't go back up to 100+ degrees next week. Chuck hasn't been able to work all week because of the high temps. Maybe he will get the fencing done next week. Don't know if his former boss will have anymore jobs here for him. Brian heads back to FL tomorrow.

Well we found our hot tub online thru the Army Airforce Exchange. Chuck signed up for a Star card and will order the hot tub and get 10% off the first purchase. The will save a good amount plus the shipping is $175 compared to $300 (Thats what Sams charges) plus we save sales tax. When the CD matures the third week of Sept we can pay off the Star card. We have looked online and at a couple of stores but couldn't find a better deal. I think this hot tub is last years model. Someone told us to buy one in the summer as they are cheaper and they are. We priced a floor model at one store and it was like $4200. The one thru the BX is a little more than half of that amount. (Of course the store does deliver and install it. ) We will have to find some help to get it up on the deck. Chuck will re-inforce the deck area where we plan to put the hot tub and he will have to run the 220 power. I will post pictures when we get it installed and running.

Hope you all are cooler than we are!

Chuck here: Nother hot day here in Tenn. Supposed to get up to 102* by afternoon so consulted with my boss and we decided to forego work for the 2nd day this week. Dont look like its gonna be any cooler tomorrow. Been building fence at Spruce Creek. I finished up about 2,800 ft of wire fence and we have about the same amount of board fence to finish. With this heat, it really gets stressful and at my age, I just dont want to subject myself to it. I'll get some pics to post later this week to give ya some idea of what we're doing. I'm typically a jack of all trades and a master of none. Brian makes use of my skills whenever he gets the chance, whether its general construction (barns, sheds, fencing etc) to aluminum fabrication of doors, dividers or fronts for horse stalls to some computer work (flyers, CAD drawings etc) I can usually get it done. Anyway, i'm just killing some time at home today, spending some quality time with Cathy.

Not a lot happening this week. I have been staying in the house because its been so hot. Chuck decided not to work out in the heat today since it is suppose to be 100+ degrees today. He took some recent pics of the 2 new kittens and out other kitten. The tortie color one, Freckles always wants on my lap or be held while I am on the computer. Don't know whats up with that! She dosen't touch the computer just watches what I do. The Mama cat is all healed up from being spade 2 weeks ago so its time to take pictures and try to find her a home. Chuck wants to keep the black one (her brother) as he is Chucks companion whenever he goes hunting for arrowheads! (Since Chuck doesn't have a dog to go with him he takes Midnight! Ha!) Chuck will bend down to pick up something and Midnight is right there sniffing whatever Chuck is touching. Sometimes Midnight will go off by himself and one day he came home covered in cobwebs! He should stay close to home now that he is neutered. I just have to get him imunized for feline leukemia before I can let him outside the porch. He tested negative for feline leukemia. I lost a cat to feline leukemia a few years ago and dont want to go thru that again.

Next week the weather is suppose to be a little cooler in the mid to high 90's and hopefully the humidity will be low as well. Because of the dry weather, some of the leaves are starting to fall. Hope we get some rain soon. Its been a pretty dry Spring and Summer here.

Chuck put some new pictures on here and I noticed the one of the kitchen is one we took the first time we looked at the house. That is not how my kitchen looks now so will have him put a recent pic on here.

The kittens are much bigger now about 4 months old and growing. Will have to take some new pictures of them. Our 10 month old cat Bandit really enjoys playing with the kittens (they are both females). At least he doesn't bother the older ones as much now. The old guy is 14 1/2 and would rather sleep then run. Smile! At least he gets a bit of exercise when Bandit starts chasing him. Bandit is an unusual cat he sucks his tail. Never seen one do that. He seems to do it less now that he has new playmates. Chuck got him for me last Dec. because he reminded him of our old cat Skeeter that we had to put to sleep in 2004 he was nearly 15. Have the Mama cat and her brother out on the back porch. Got them fixed over a week ago free through the Human Society in another county. Our vet wanted $55 to do the female and $35 to do the male. I hope that there is funding when I need to get the two females done in 2 months. I hope to find homes for them. Plan to put an ad up a the Vet in town. At least they were both negative for feline leukemia. They will have to be

We will be having 100 degree + weather all week it may get back in the 90's by the weekend. We need rain so badly haven't had any for a couple of week. The weather seems to be crazy every where this year. The humidity isn't high so it doesn't feel as hot. But I am ready for the fall weather. People here are saying that the fall colors may not be as pretty here since its been so dry.