Winter Time

We had our second snow of the winter, only about an inch or so but with the wind blowing so hard it almost started drifting. Even though it was well below freezing, I decided to take a hike around the mountain to look for arrow heads. Had to take a picture of the water falls below the house that had frozen over and our house, as you see it from the road above. Sure was a pretty morning but burrrr! Well Christmas is over and we're almost into another new year. 2008 went by so fast it seems like a blur. I guess the older we get the faster time seems to go by. We had a wonderful Thanksgiving with 11 people staying in this little house. It was fun. Our daughter, Kristy, and her three kids, my two sisters, Diane and PJ from Illinois and Diane's son, Robert from Calif. Robert flew into Nashville and had a friend drive him up to our house to surprise his Mom for Thanksgiving. It was a great time and haven't had that much fun in a long time. Took Kristy and our two oldest grand daughters on a walk around the mountain. They seemed to really enjoy the walk, fresh air, and scenery. We climbed across the face of several cliffs which was exhilirating for this old man. We all had a good time. Cathy and I spent Christmas by ourselves, which we seem to be doing more and more of late. Guess we're just too far away from our kids who are all in Florida. Kristy didn't want to drive the 12 hours again with her three alone. I know it had to be tough for her to drive on Thanksgiving up here and back but we sure did enjoy having them. I told her not to bother bringing the baby (Lilly) any shoes because her feet would never touch the ground while she was here. Cathy insisted that I finally finish staining the old rocking chair before they got here so she could rock Lilly and put her to sleep. She had a grand time with her Grandma. Well, gotta grab some breakfast and do some puttering around.

Fall Continues

The colors continue to get better as the colder weather sets in. It's been down in the low 30's during the mornings lately. We gots lots of young calves running around, which is another fall indicator. They're big enough now to survive the winter, having survived the local bears and coyote packs. I was sitting in the field and these guys just couldn't control their curiosity and came within a few feet of me and the camera. I took the pic of our house from the same field on a hillside about an 1/8th of a mile away, cross country. It's about a 2 mile hike around the hills to get to that view.

COLD COLD COLD!

Well I think winter is almost here. It barely made it to 40 degrees today and the low tonight is to be 20 degrees. The leaves on the trees are still changing colors and some are already dropping leaves. The fall is not as pretty as it was last year and the changing colors is later this year. Chuck worked outdoors on Monday and said at one point it was spitting snow! I was in the house all day doing medical transcription and didn't notice if we got snow flurries or not. I only went out in 3 times, twice to feed the horse and once to check the mail. Decided it was nicer inside. Later in the week we are to get 68-70 degree highs daytime but still 30-40's at night. So its time to get out the winter clothing and jackets!

Fall Indicators

Besides the weather change, you can always tell when fall has arrived by the tobacco harvest in our area. The leaves turn a yellow color and begin to wilt. The farmers harvest the leaves and hang them out to dry, some on covered tobacco racks and others in tobacco barns. The fall colors haven't been all that great this year, partly due to the dry weather we've had over the past few months. The leaves are drying up and falling off before they change color so it isn't as pretty as we're used to seeing. Still, fall is definately here. Thanksgiving Day is just around the corner and Christmas isn't too far off either. Election Day is quickly closing on us and God only knows what's gonna happen with this election. We're both doing well and have faired another year inspite of the economic trouble. Hopefully next year will be better.

FALL IS IN THE AIR AGAIN

I haven't had much time to write lately and nothing to write about. I have been keeping busy with the medical transcription and will probably get even busy when my sister-in-law takes on another client. I am still enjoying the working at home and not having to spend money on gas. Chuck started back working last week on another barn and I think that they have one to do after that. I hope before the weather gets cold. So far its been beautiful and nice not to have any humidity. Its been in the high 70s daytime and 50's at night but it will be in the 40's at night later on this week. The high on Wednesday is only suppose to be 69 with a low of 49 at night. The leaves on the trees are starting to change a little bit. Its hard to believe that Oct starts next week. This year has gone very fast for me.

Son Stephen was planning a trip up from FL in Oct. now it may not be until Nov. I do hope he makes it. We plan to drive down to FL the day after Christmas and pick up Kristy and the girls and bring them back here for a visit until the kids have to return to school. I know if Kristy sees this area she may want to move to TN. One can always hope.

We are enjoying eating all the peaches we froze they are just as good as when we froze them. Next year we plan to have a much larger garden and freeze veggies for the winter. Our neighbor planted his winter crops of greens and maybe we will be lucky to get some of them. He has given us some excess stuff from his sisters garden she lives just down the road from here. I still have tomatoes, green peppers and eggplant in my garden. Froze a bunch of tomaotoes to use in soups, chilli and spagetti sauce for the winter.

Thanksgiving will soon be upon us. Both sister-in-laws will be coming for Thanksgiving and Diane's son Robert may fly in from CA. Diane finally got a larger car so it will be a much more comfortable drive for them to come here. It will be great to cook for more than two people to. I heard on the news that hams will be going up in price so I think I will get one ahead of time for New Years day.

Well thats it for now. Not a lot happening in the mountains of Tennessee.

Peaches

Yesterday we put up a big box of South Carolina white peaches. We first had to put the peaches in boiling water for 15 seconds, then into cold water. The peel comes off very easily. Then I sliced them and layed 4 cups of sliced peaches at a time on a cookie sheet and sprinked with Bell's Friut Fresh (pectin) to keep the peaches from turning brown. Chuck was putting them in the plastic bads and sealing with the sealing machine. The sealing machine takes the air out of the bags. You acually have to cut and make the bags yourself which is nice you can have larger or smaller bags. We will enjoy eating these all winter. I hope the man that was selling the peaches in the bank parking lot is there tomorrow when I go into town, I would like to buy another box full. Otherwise, maybe we will catch him on Monday.

I went to the Farmers Market in Byrdstown this morning. I wish I had started going sooner. There were only 2 people there selling veggies all they had left was pole beans so I got a big container of those. Its the end of the growing season now so I doubt that there will be anymore fresh veggies to buy. We hope next year to plant a lager garden and also find some places to go and pick our own fruits and vegetables. We found a place that you can pick your own strawberries so next Spring will try picking our own.

I finished my transription for the day. The imaging centers are open a half a day on Sat. and the Dr.'s will come in and read on Sat. and sometimes on Sunday. I will make more money this month since I have been doing more reports one gal was on vacation all this week. She only works Tues. Wed. and Thurs. so I will usually do more on those days and after 5pm when she leaves work if she has left any work to do.

The days are starting to get shorter its uaually dark by 8 pm now and its getting cooler at night. Its been ion the low to mid 80's lately with a little bit lower humidy. Fall will be here before we know it. I am looking forward to the leaves changing fall is my favorite month. We may have company for Thanksgiving Chucks 2 sisters from IL. Well thats it for now. Not alot to write about.

SUMMER IS ALMOST ENDED

I have been to busy to write on the blog for the past 2 months. I am still learning my new" stay at home job", "Medical Transcription". It was a bit tough at first the biggest problem understanding the Dr.'s one speaks with an accent, the other rather fast and one is quite long winded (more money) and learning all these new terms. I get $.12 a line although that doesn't sound like much it quickly ads up. I made $242 last month just part-time. I could make more if I wanted to work full time. Sometimes my sister-in-law has extra that needs doing so I will help out. I hope to make a little more this month since I am getting much faster at it. I kinda enjoy it. All work has to be done the same day so there is a 24 hour turnover. This allows the Dr.'s time to get the printed reports we type, look them over and sign them and then they go to the Dr. who requested the procedure. My sister-in-law is looking for another new client preferably another imaging center. I mainly do MRI's but will soon be doing CAT scans and PET scans. They each have different terms to learn and spell. With the price of gas being so high, its nice not to have to leave the house (this will be especially nice in the winter) and drive anywhere. Everything I type is done on the computer and sent to a temp file where my sister-in-law checks the reports before sending them on. Not all her clients use the computer she still has a couple of clients that use tapes that she has to go and pick up then return with the printed reports. Luckily, she doesn't live far from them.

My vegetable garden is doing well last week we picked some okra and everyday there are cherry tomatoes, plum tomatoes and regular tomatoes. I have som Japanese egg plant and some green peppers as well as about 6 different herbs. Next year we hope to have a bigger garden and that way I can freeze vegetables for the winter months. Our neighbor gave us some potatoes out of his garden. What a difference compared to the ones from the store. We will plant some potaoes eyes next Spring and see how we do. One problem we are having is some kind of bug is eating holes in the leaves of some of my plants and grasshoppers are a problem to I think that they like my tomatoes. I have had to pick some before they are vine ripe and just set them out on the porch to ripen.

My second grandaughter celebrated her 10th birthday yesterday. I had sent her a package last week so she opened it while I was on the phone. She loved her new outfit and digital/camera/camcorder. They live in FL and start school the 19th of this month. The baby, Lilly, was keeping busy getting into the packages having a good time. She also got a new outfit as did the oldest one Jynna who is 12. I was at Penneys on the 1st of the month and was able to get Jynna 2 new bathing suits for $.89 each and one for Kaylee at the same price. They have been going to the beach at least once a week and are really tan, even Lilly.

Well its time to get the rest of the housework done and make the pasta salad for dinner. Hubby is working today and hopefully will be home early. He and Ken are trying to finish up a job so they can go on to the next one.

Rare Summer Storms

I got up to go to work at 0600

one morning and when I went out on the back porch, this is what I saw. A Summer storm was crossing the valley, following Wolf River (top photo) and in a short time the clouds were nearly in our back yard. Temp was really cool (68) and you could feel the moisture in the air.

Black Berry Time

Well Now - It's that time of year again. Chuck went out today and came back with about a half gallon of black berries. This year there seems to be a lot more black berries than usual. They're a somewhat smaller because we have not had the rain we need but when you look close to the ground you can still find some larger berries, about the size of your thumb. They'll be around for about another week. The turkey's are really getting them early in the morning and late afternoon, so we'll have to try to beat them to the punch. They tend to strip all the ripe berries off the lower branches and obviously that's where the best ones are. Turkeys ain't dumb and they been picking them a lot longer than we have. These berries make an oooohhhhh sssssooooooo good cobbler

Spruce Creek Garage

This is the garage that Chuck helped build in Spruce Creek. He, Ken and Brian also built the three board fence you can see in the background, which was 700' around three sides of the property. The owner has someone who is coming in to stain the garage a cedar color. Brian, Chuck and Ken have also been signed on to replace the roof on the cabin that's on this property. It already has a shingle roof but the owner wants it to look the same as the garage, which is hunter green steel roofing. Another job a little more income to help out. Chuck and Ken also finished up about 2,000' of wire fencing last week and are supposed to start another project, a combination of fencing/construction next week.

My Little Spring Garden

Small but effective. I've planted seven tomatoe plants, five peppers, a Japanese egg plant, five okra and a bunch of herbs. Still have some radish and carrots to replant. Not a very big garden but big enough for us.

A Job at Last

My sister-in-law has been after me to start doing medical transcription for her. She lives in IL and has her own business. Her younger sister does some work for her. She has decided to expand her business after being in it for the last 3 years. I started last night doing a little bit. Its going to take some time to become proficient at it. I have had some medical language training but that was years ago and it seems the medical terms change or rather there are more than when I was studying. So I will give it a try. I did a little practice last night. Diane sent the software to our computer then we couldn't get it to work because our Java program (for the sound) was so much newer than what she was using. So after her sending another software file and drivers we are good to go. She had already sent the footpedal and I already had headphones from school. It will be nice to work at home and not spend any money on gas because everything is done over the computer now. I am amazed! Wasn't like this 10 years ago.

Getting sick has put a crimp on getting any practice in today. After finally seeing my Dr. today and getting a couple of shots and medication I hope that I feel better tomorrow and can get back to busines.

Its been hot and a bit humid here since last week with temps in the mid 90's still not as hot as FL was. But it is cooling down a bit and will be in the high 80's daytime and high 60's at night at least thru the weekend into next week.

Chuck has gotten a little work with 2 days of work last week and 2 days this week. When this garage construction job is finished, he and co-worker will move onto a fencing job which they hope to finish in 2 days. The extra money will be great since gas is really getting in our pocket lately. We just don't do much driving but still have to mow the lawn with gas!

Well thats it for now not alot happening here. Conpany for dinner on Sat. it will be nice to cook for some other people.

Cookeville Day

Today is our day to go to Cookeville, which is about an hour drive sw of us. Cathy gets her hair cut at JC Penny's, while Chuck donates apheresis. This is our day to get out and do something together off the mountain. With the price of gas these days we dont do much running around. We usually eat something at Red Lobster, our one extravagant expenditure for the month, and do a little shopping while we're here. Chuck has been working helping to build a two car garage and maybe will be building a large horse barn later this month. So, that'll be a little more income. Chuck's sister, Diane, has a medical transcription business and has offered Cathy a job doing online transcription. Cathy hopes to start this week - Every little bit helps.

The Latest Addition "Lillian"

This is Kristy and her kids.

Cats Galore !!!

These are six of our nine cats. We brought four with us from Florida and the other five adopted us after we moved in our current house. We have since put out the "NO VACANCY" sign and are trying to find homes for four of the new arrivals.

Spring in the air

Well - it's warming up, slow but sure. Low temps are dropping only into the high 30's/low 40's at night but we're making it to the 70's during the daytime. Trees are starting to bud out and grass has really greened up. Sure hope we don't have another late freeze like last year that almost killed some of the trees here. Also hope that we don't have another drought like last year. I believe the winter rains have really helped the aquifer but we may not have caught up yet. Dale Hollow lake is still very low but with all the creeks and rivers that feed into it maybe it'll fill to normal levels yet.

More snow!

What crazy weather. Yesterday we had to drive to Cookeville left the house about 9:30am so we could beat the bad weather home. It was rainy and cold when we left and the weatherman said that we would get about 1-3 inches of snow starting in the evening. A friend called us when we were on the way to Cookeville and asked if we could pick up his big screen tv at the repair shop in Crossville. After finishing our business in Cookeville we headed to Crossville got the tv and headed to his house. Delivered the TV then went on our way home. All went well until we were heading up the mountains to our home. It was extremely foggy and Chuck almost ran off the road twice! Most of the road has no guardrails so the only way is down the mountain literally. That was one scarey ride for me and I was glad to get home! We made it home by 8pm in one piece! Then it started hailing! By the time we went to bed it was snowing and getting colder. It only made it up to 29 degree's today but at least the sun is out and I imagine the snow will melt off tomorrow. Poor horse is slipping and sliding up and down the steep hill in his pasture. Hope he doesn't fall and break a leg.

The daffodils in our yard are in bloom and the tree's already started getting buds on them this cold and snow couldn't be good for them. Well spring will get here soon enough.

Old Man Winter - Again

Well, Just when you thought it was safe - Here comes the snow again. Ah - but its pretty up here. We only got a little over 3 inches but some places got as much as 8. Guess we be lucky Huh? But its really cold out there. When I got up it was 24 degrees now, at 2PM it's 28. Gotta stay covered up cause that wind really drives the temp down. It must be about 20 out there with the wind blowing like it is. Jim's partially covered with snow and doesn't seem to mind. He comes and goes as he pleases. We were gonna head down the mountain to Jamestown but changed out minds when we saw the roads still covered with snow and ice. Will tackle that errand on another day.

Poor old Horse

The man that owns the pasture next to us had 2 horses. Sometimes they come around to the field adjoining ours. The one old horse was a work horse and just looked so skinney. He and the other horse are out in the weather and as far as we know they never feed them anything but hay (and only in winter). Chuck looked out this morning and saw the brown horse laying down and trying to get up. We left at 9:30 to go to the dentist. When we got back at 12:30 he was still laying in the field so I told Chuck to go down and check on him. Turns out he was dead. So Chuck drove up to our neighbor to tell him and I guess he called his nephew to come over. They drug him away with a tractor and said that they were going to bury him. I felt so bad for the old guy. he probably had no back teeth to chew (like our Jim) and couldn't eat the hay so he basically starved to death. They have no cover in the winter either. Our horse gets 3 scoops of Sr feed mixed with warm water twice a day and two buckets of hay cubes soaked twice a day. So he keeps his weight on pretty good. He also has a stall to go in. They just don't treat their animals the same here as we do. i know one day we will have to put him to sleep or we may find him laying out in the field to. But at least we know we took good care of him in his last days. We figure our horse is close to 35 now.

We missed the nasty sleet that the other part of TN got. I'm glad as we didn't want to drive the roads when they are slippery. The country roads don't have guard rails and its a long way down! Ha! Its been cold but its going to warm up later on this week. Spring will be here soon and it will be our first spring here. Hope its as pretty as fall is.

High Winds

The past two days we have had very high winds up here on top of the mountain. We lost electricity about 8:30 am. They worked on it and got it on but we only had power for 20 minutes before it went off again. We found out that 2 tree's were down on electric poles and snapped them both in two. The power finally came back on at 9:30pm last night. We had decided to go to town for batteries and butane for the barbacue grill so we could at least cook (we have an electric stove) something for dinner. Luckily I had made chicken burgers the other night and had two left. And I had buns in the freezer. We had two battery operated laterns and candles. We didn't think that the power would be back on till today. Luckily, our water is city water (not a well with a pump) and the water heater is gas so we had hot water to shower. Almost like camping! Ha! Guess I will dig out my butane camping stove and coffee pot so Chuck could have his coffee anyway. We at least had cereal to eat for breakfast before the milk went sour. Next time we will be more prepared like we were in FL for the hurricanes. I don't think that the power goes off very often here.

Today driving into town for lab tests it was spitting snow. It was only in the low 30's but once it warmed up it stopped. I hope it snows again before Spring arrives but by the looks of the weather next week, it will be to warm.

February Flurry

Woke up this morning to a bit of that white stuff on the ground. Just a bit of a flurry overnight but pretty none the less. It's about 23 degrees and probably will warm up to about 40 something by noon. Pretty chilly day but have seen colder. Had to get out and take some pics of the trees on the mountain. The distant trees are covered with a light snow - must have been protected from direct wind because most of the other trees have the snow blown off them. Gotta go out and get some plumbing supplies as the kitchen faucet sprung a leak and have to replace the seals. Easy job but the treck down and up the mountain may prove to be an experience. Oh, Well! If'n we gonna live here gotta be like everybody else. It's just another day.

Happy Valentines Day!

I haven't been writing on the blog much lately. Lazy I guess. It won't be long and spring will be here. It will be nice to see the green leaves on tree's again. It hasn't been a bad winter not the cold we had last year.

Got some bad news this weekend. Lisa called and said that the cancer has spread to the bowel. She had been trying to get some medical assistance so she could start treatment. No luck. She finally got a job at one of the hotels in the Disney complex but her medical insurance doesn't kick in until April 1st. I guess she was having some problems last week and went back to see the Dr. she origianlly saw. He told her if she could bring $500 for the tests and then pay something monthly he would start treatment. Then when her insurance kicks in he would treat her as a new patient so the existing condition problem won't be a problem with the insurance company. He was really upset with her not getting treatment sooner because now it looks like the cancer is more aggressive. Lisa is really scared he is talking about surgery and chemo. She called and asked Chuck about chemo. I don't think that she understood from day one that cancer isn't something to fool around with. We all have been pushing her to get treatment. I am really worried that she has waited too long and surgery and treatment won't help her. She is waiting for the other tests to come back to see what happens next. She is going to need a lot of prayers.

Chuck just came in from outside and said that there is a skunk in the back yard. Ugh! I think he has been hanging around because we have smelled him while we have been in the hot tub. I would rather have the racoon hanging around rather than the skunk! To windy out tonight so won't get in the hot tub. Its about 35 degree's now.

Its been cold and windy the last couple of days and was below 19 degree's the other night. When we got up in the morning it was 19 so figured it did get much colder. I guess no snow for this winter!

I got these books from the bookclub called Sharing Memories A keepsake journal for Grandmother and Grandchild. I am filling out one for each of the grandaughters. I know that they have them for mother to children and father to children but I haven't been able to find them yet. These that I got were a bargain at $5.20 each. I sent one to a friend for her 60th birthday she has a 2 year old grandaughter. Unfortuantely, she has cancer and I thought that this would be something to leave for her grandaughter. She lived in my neighborhood and we were good friends for a long time. When I went back home to visit a few years ago I got in touch with her and we have been staying in touch ever since. Hopefully she will be able to make a visit here very soon.

I will be starting work at home soon. Chucks sister has her own business (medical transcription) and is going to expand her business and wants me to work part-time at home to start. She lives in IL and everthing will be done over the internet. I will have to purchase a foot pedal and won't have to purchase any software. Diane has her son in CA working for her too and said he was making about $1600 or more a month. He may not be able to do as much now that he got a job at the university as a professor. I think he has a Masters in Music. Its amazing what can be done on the internet. I will do the work and send it to her via the internet. At first she will have to check and see if everything is being done right then she sends it on its way. I guess she bills once a month and I will get paid monthly not sure though. Hope it works out. It would be nice to have a little extra money.

Catchin' Up

Whew! The Holidays are over and are we ever glad. Our's was kind of a drag without the kids and grand kids, but we survived. We celebrated the New Year at home by ourselves with a bottle of good wine and some movies. We're finding out that we're not the late nighters we used to be nor are we early risers either. Chuck's just finishing up a small construction job in Spruce Creek and probably won't work again until sometime in March when the weather warms up. Right now it's not all that cold but it sure is wet and muddy which makes a worksite dangerous, especially when using heavy equipment. Chuck went hunting for arrowheads today and found some off the beaten path. The first pic below is the point before he took it out of the ground. You never know if it's a rock or an artifact until you pick it up. He's found some interesting stuff lately but hasn't been able to classify it to a time period yet. Most of these finds will date from 3,000 to 5,000 years ago.

Old Man Winter

Well its really winter now, the temp never got above the teens today and with the wind blowing, it felt colder. Its already 14 degree's at 10:20 pm and may get down in the single digit tonight. We will be sleeping with the electric blanket tonight. I hope Jim stays in his barn tonight he hates when we put the horse blanket on him and trys to rub it off.

We had some snow flurries on and off on New Years Day but it didn't stick. I wouldn't be surprised if it doesn't snow tonight. By next week it will be up to 67 degree's according to the extended forcast. I just checked the weather in Brooksville, FL its suppose to get down to 27 degree's there tonight. When I talked to my grandaughter on line tonight she said that it was very cold there and that they had to wear their winter jackets.