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.