1st Big Snow

This is our 1st big snow of 2010. It's been snowing off and on for 3 days now. We've got anywhere from 5 - 8 inches of snow on the ground now and it's still snowing. Supposed to stop about 10 pm tonight - then start again on wed and thursday. Oh Well. It's almost winter. Hope it sticks around thru Christmas - Love white Christmas's. Been kinda getting cabin fever lately cause of the weather. Even Jim stays in his stall rather than brave the cold and snow. I started feeding him in his stall to keep him out of the cold wind. Did go and winterize the pontoon yesterday and put the winter cover on it. This was our first time putting the cover on and it may be on backwards. It fit at any rate but had to tie it down cause it doesn't have snaps. Got it done anyway. Had my sister, Diane, down for Thanksgiving. Was really nice. Her son, Robert, was going to Ohio so we met them just outside of Lexington, Ky and brought Diane to our house. Robert stopped by on his way back home on Saturday and the left for Illinois on Sunday. Don't look like we gonna have any company for Christmas as we haven't heard from Kristy in a bit. I guess we'll survive but we sure miss the Grandkids at Christmas.

Winter is Here

We have had the most beautifull weather this fall. It was nice being able to go out in the pontoon as late as mid November.

Finally, the canning is done. I still have a half dozen tomatoes ripening in the kitchen window. Our neighbor will have some winter cabbage soon. The mustard and tenderleaf greens died out due to a heavy frost last week. I did manage to put up 6 bags of greens in the freezer. My pantry is full of jars its so nice to go into my pantry and take out a jar of spagetti sauce or salsa. We are thinking of buying a small chest freezer and keeping on the porch and filling it up with more veggies next year. My little 9 cubic ft freezer is full as is my one in the side by side.

We had a nice Thanksgiving Chucks sister was here from Wed night till Sunday morning. Her son was going to Ohio for Thanksgiving so we met them in Ky and brought Diane home with us. Robert arrived here on Sat. night.

We think our daughter and 3 girls will come up either for Christmas or right after Christmas. They were here for three weeks in August and they all seemed to have a good time. They loved going out on the boat and swimming in the lake. In FL, you have to worry about aligators in the lakes and brackess water. Thats the first thing they asked us are there any aligators in the lake. The little 3 year old Lilly couldn't wait to go humming (swimming). She loves the water even did a little fishing with her Dora fishing pole, she loves Dora so we got her a Dora life vest as well.

Its time to start decorating for Christmas will start with the outside first. I hope to get some crafts done this weekend for gifts. And maybe start on crocheting an afgan for my sister. She and husband lost everything in a fire last Jan. and are finally back in their newly fixed home. Since she lost her afgan in the fire, I told her I would crochet her another one.

The weather has gotten considerably colder this week and its to be in the teens the next couple of nights. We did get snow flurries earlier in the week which left a dusting on the ground. Of course as soon as the sun came out it was gone. Everyone around here says we are in for a hard winter. Time to get the camp stove ready and buy candles, batteries for the flashlight and butane for the camp stove. We are ready if the power goes off and the heater in the dining room will be our only heat if the power goes off. We are thinking of getting a ventless gas fire place for the living room or bedroom. Need to do some research on them first.

Well not alot going on here we do manage to get quite a few books read during the winter months since we don't leave the house that much.

We still have to go down to the marina and winterize the pontoon.

This is all that been going on. More later.

This weather is crazy. One day it is freezing - the next it's unseasonably warm, like yesterday. It was 74 and we just had to take advantage of it an get out on the boat again. It was a bit cooler on the lake but it wasn't cold. We did some fishing with surface lures but didn't catch anything. Chuck had a bass hit his lure. It came completely out of the water but didn't hold on. Might have been a keeper. Ah Well - that's fishin for ya. Looks like Friday might be another warm day so we won't cover the boat just yet. When we get ready to winterize it, it has a cover to help minimize the weathering process during the winter. Anyway - have to go to Knoxville today to get Chuck measured for his tux for Stephen's wedding in May. It's about a 2 hour drive but it's the closest Men's Wearhouse to us.

Busy Summer

Its been awhile since I have had a chance to post. We have been busy with company and canning. The end of July Kristy and the girls were here for three weeks. We all had a great time. We took them all to Chattanooga to the aquarium. We all enjoyed it and it was well worth the three hour drive one way. We spent a lot of time going out on the pontoon, humming (swimming) as three year old Lilly would say. Both girls got to drive the boat and Jynna the 14 year old pulled the boat into the boat slip first time with no problem! They all want to come on their Xmas break. They are hoping for snow and a chance to go sledding.

The end of August Chucks oldest brother and grandaughter, he and wife are raising, flew to TN for a week. They hadn't seen each other in over 7 years. The guys got to get together and play guitars and sing. Bob made a tape of their singing. He wants to come back in the spring when wife Patty can come. She started a new job in March and doesn't have any vacation time as yet. Zoey adopted three of our cats and wanted to take at least one home but Dad told her she can leave them here for us to care for. When Bob called we asked when we were going to get our "Cat support check" Ha! They enjoyed going out on the boat but Zoey wanted to go to the beach (they live in RI and the beach is where they usually go). She wouldn't swim in the lake! After seeing a water snake on Friday I don't think I want to swim in the lake either!!

We planted a garden again this year and have gotten quite a bit of produce. We still have okra, tomatoes, peppers and Armenian cucumbers. Our neighbor gave us corn in July and we froze whole and also scraped off the cob and froze the corn. Also peas and beans that he gave us. A couple of weeks ago Joe told us to come and pick all the tomatoes we wanted as they were tired of canning. I have canned tomatoes, tomato sauce, made salsa, spaghetti sauce and marinara sauce. My pantry cupboard is getting quite full! I also froze tomatoes and okra. The green tomatoes I made green tomato relish with. Chuck picked more tomatoes on Friday so I plan on making another batch of spaghetti sauce and giving more to the neighbor. They like my spaghetti sauce. I will have to buy another dozen jars today to finish my canning. I also canned pickles and okra. We will enjoy all these goodies all winter long.

The beginning of the month we took an overnight (8 hour drive) to W VA to bring extra stuff we had to our oldest daughter. She just moved into a small 2 bedroom trailer the beginning of Sept. We hope to make a trip up in Oct and bring more stuff we have for her. I hope things work out for her.

Well that's all the news for now. Hopefully I will keep up with this blog better than I have.

Garden Bounty

This is a snapshot of a days harvest. May not look like much but it's great for two people. The tomatoes are ripening daily so Cathy is canning again. She does tomato sauce, marinara and salsa. Boy does it taste good in the winter. I just checked the garden and we're starting to get our first okra. Took long enough. The beets are the small variety so we need to pay more attention to the variety we plant in the future. I prefer the larger size. Gonna try to pickle some beets this year. I didn't thin the carrots too well so they're a little small but still sweet.

New Toy

In June we bought a 1993 Playbouy pontoon. We had been looking for 3 years to find what we really wanted. Knew for sure that we didn't want a new one (takson okanee- too much money) so Chuck searched the Local Shopping Network. We actually found this one at a local marine repair shop. The original owner had to return to Minnesota and sold it to the shop owner. Keith, the shop owner had serviced this pontoon for the past 5 years and knew its condition. The pontoon is 24' long and powered by an Evinrude (etec) 90 hp outboard motor. It is fully equipped and has a pop up dressing room in the rear, Bimini top and fish finder. We truck along at 3,000 rpm (10-12mph) for 3 hours and use only about 2.5 gal of gas. We can really kick it to about 24 mph with this motor, enough to pull the grand kids on a tube. With off road gas at 3.36 per gal we economize at a slower speeds. The pontoon came with 6 months slip fee already paid, which means we don't have to tow it back and forth. Even if it's only about 16 miles to the marina it's a hassle. Most of the local marinas have a fairly long waiting list for 24' slips so we actually lucked out. We don't do a lot of running around so this will be our main entertainment (cruising, fishing etc). It'll take us a long time to get to know Dale Hollow Lake. It has over 600 miles of shore line and average depth of 90' (up to 150' in the main channel). We already got lost once but managed to find our way back. Got a detailed map now and intend to purchase a GPS in the future. There are soooooo many inlets and creeks that feed this lake that it isn't hard to get lost. Our friends put their boat in the water at a ramp that's about 15 miles down river from where we have our slip and there's a great restaurant on the water about 9 miles southeast of us. We're looking forward to lots of floating time.

Summer fun

We planted our garden in late May and this is what it looked like in mid-June. We have onions, squash, cucumber, radish, carrots, lettuce, okra, a variety of tomatoes, beets, herbs and some asparagus. The okra is super slow growing because we planted from seed. Last year by this time we were up to our ears in okra but none so far (we'll use starter plants next year). The asparagus takes two seasons before it's ready - so maybe next year.

Summertime Garden

Well, the garden is off and running. We kinda coordinate with our neighbor - Joe - about what we plant. He plants corn, taters, maters, cabbage, beans, cucumbers, squash and some okra. These are the things his family eats in quantity. We plant maters, okra, radish, beets, squash, cucumbers, peppers, carrots, herbs, and this year, asparagras. We swap back and forth with Joe and his family and store all his taters under our house for the winter. We usually wind up with about 40 bushels of potatoes in storage and they last all winter.

How does your garden Grow?

The garden is doing pretty well considering most everything is from seed. The white and read radishes are growing well. The lettuce is up. We have been eating the onions in salads. We planted about 23 different tomato plants including heirloom, cherry and plum tomatoes. Also green and orange peppers. The cucumber, yellow and green squash started from seed is doing very well. Chuck planted some okra seed today and 5 more tomato plants, 4 asparagus plants and my herb plants. I have Italian and curly parsley, basil and a couple others that I can't remember. Chuck was over in the other small garden area today and found curly parsley growing apparently its a perennial and not annual. Since we haven't had any rain in a couple of days Chuck was out there watering tonight. Rain is predicted for Friday. Most of the long weekend will be nice. We are staying home and will have company coming on Friday and Sunday. Hope to have a cookout on Saturday the usual hot dogs and hamburgers and maybe some brots.

Company

Last week we had the pleasure of having some old friends from our Navy days visit for a couple of days. They were on their way back from Vt and MD visiting family. Unfortunately, they could only stay from Wednesday - Thursday. They had a 16 hour drive to get back to the Austin, TX area where they live. They loved our mountain home and would love to buy a place nearby. We took them down to Dale Hollow Lake about 12 miles from our mountain home in Byrdstown. The lake is high after all that rain 2 weeks ago and was overflowing into the parking lot. There is a restaurant on a floating dock there and a large marina and also a state park to camp the other side of the marina. Anyway, Bob and Kathy will be making the trip again next year and plan on stopping through on the way to and back from MD.

Mothers Day I got breakfast in bed compliments of my husband. Late afternoon we went to the lake and had a steak dinner. Son Stephen always sends money evry year for birthdays and mothers and fathers day so dinner was on him. It was a great day although a little cool had to wear a light jacket. The weather has since warmed up. We are looking forward to the day when we can purchase a used pontoon boat and be out on the lake.

Been busy planting in the garden we still have seeds to plant and I want to plant my herb garden. I hope we get alot more tomatoes this year than last. Our neighbors let us pick tomatoes from their garden as well as pole beans, greens, cabbage and okra. We hope to put up more peaches this year peaches should be ready next month.

Short Shopping/Vacation to Ft Campbell Ky

We went to Ft Campbell, Kentucky on the wednesday the 28th of April and stayed until friday the 30th. It was a short getaway and a shopping trip all in one. We stayed at the Post Guest House (Turner) which was very close to the Commissary and PX.

Garden Time

One of the neighbors came over and spread the top soil last week then Chuck borrowed a tiller from the other neighbor and the garden is ready to be planted. Yesterday, we went out and planted red, yellow and white onion bulbs, white radish seeds, cucumbers, crook neck squash,eggplant, beets and zucchini. Now its raining today so will have to finish planting seeds another day. When we get back from out trip to KY this week, will go to the nursery for tomato plants, pepper plants, lettuce and herbs. I decided to plant my herbs in planters and keep them on the back deck. Not sure if it this will work with the 4 stray cats running around! They may try to use the planters as a litter box!! I hope the seeds come up we usually buy plants but thought that we would try seed this year. Our neighbor does seeds and seems to have a lot of luck with them. Speaking of the neighbor, Chuck went over and helped him plant potatoes again this year. Chuck built a double bin under the house for red and white potatoes. We never have had to buy potatoes all year! He usually gives us veggies when he found out I wanted to start canning. His wife and her mother do the canning. Joe built a wood fire outside and got a big metal tub filled it with water and filled canning jars its much faster than doing them on the stove. So Chuck decided that we will try that this year.

Joe gave us two jars of what I call Italian green beans, he had another name for them. I have had the canned ones from the store but these are much better. I guess they have an excess left over. Their kids usually come and help pick the veggies and then they get jars of stuff and potatoes all winter. I filled my freezer up plus a whole shelf of jars. Gave some to the kids when they were here and friends. We planted stuff that the neighbor doesn't plant so we can share with them. He also plants greens in the fall those also freeze nicely. I just have one bag of greens in the freezer to finish up. I will can more of them this year as my daughter and granddaughters like them.

Well its time to sign off till next time.

Spring

Well here it is almost the end of April and I am finally finding time to write a few lines. The weather has been perfect here lately in the upper 70's. The rest of the week rain is predicted.

Got the garden plowed up and a delivery of top soil today. This clay soil is very hard root veggies don't grow very well in it so Chuck decided we needed top soil. Waiting for the neighbor to come over and spread the soil then Chuck can till the garden. Luckily, our neighbor lets us borrow his tillar. Guess we will have to invest in one if we are going to have a garden every year. Now we have to decide what to plant and lay the garden out.

I cooked up a big batch of spagetti sauce this week and canned it. I did put one container of the sauce in the freezer for another time. I got 3 quarts and 2 pints canned. Also had some frozen tomatoes from the garden last summer and made up 4 pints of medium salsa. Can't wait till the peaches are out so can freeze some and also can some. The neighbor asked us if we wanted some canned green beans so will take a jar of spagetti sauce over tomorrow and get a couple jars of beans. I gave the ones I did up to my youngest daughter when she and the girls were here at Christmas. She took more pickles home to.

We spent a couple of days in IL with Chucks sister Easter weekend. I brought a ham and a bag of frozen greens and some other stuff. We had a turkey breast along with the ham and all the trimmings. Diane cooked more than needed for five people. We hope to take a trip back later on the summer.

Planning a trip to Fort Campbell, KY next week. Its been a long while since we have been to a military base. Love to shop in the commissary and exchange. I am waiting to hear if they have a room available on base. Active duty have priority so it may be hard for us to get a room. There are hotels and motels in the area as well.

Finally finished the renovation to the main bathroom last month. Still have to get new fixtures for the shower and some new rugs. Will do the master bath early fall. Thats a job and the bathroom was out of commission for over a week! It took 2 days just to do the tiling! In the master bath we plan to put in radiant floor heat before we tile. That should warm it up in the winter.

Well not alot going on here this week. So I will sign off.

More Snow!

Just when we thought Spring was just around the corner the cold and snow is back. Not going to get the 3 inches they first predicted this am. I canceled my hair cut appointment for tomorrow thinking that the roads would be bad up here on the mountain (the county doesn' plow or salt our country road) it looks like it will be ok tomorrow. Its still cold here in the 30's during the day. By sunday it will be in the low 50's.

We are planning our garden but don't want to plant to soon. I am thinking of doing container garden for my herbs and plant the tomatoes where I normally plant herbs. Last year the tomatoe plants burned up and we didn't get many tomatoes. That one side of the house doesn't get the sun all day like the back yard. Chuck is planning on getting a load of top soil for the garden as the root vegetables didn't do well in the clay soil. Still have frozen corn, greens, tomatoes, green peppers and green beans, yellow squash and peaches in the freezer to use up and jars of pickles, spagetti sauce, peaches green tomatoe relish and tomatoes to use up. I gave a bunch to our daughter to take home at Christmas time. Have to see what the neighbor is planting this year they always give us some veggies especially potatoes, so we can give some stuff to them. They put up alot of jar stuff and give to their 3 grown children and grandchildren. Sure saved us some money this winter.

We are planning a trip to IL at Easter time just a weekend with Chucks sisters and nephrew. Its hard to get away when we still have the old horse and the cats.

My sister and brother-in-law's house caught on fire in January they are now living in a temp house paid for by the insurance company. Thank God they weren't in the house nor was the other sister. They are being told it may take up to a year to redo the inside. I don't think they were able to salvage much.

Daughter and grandaughters are planning a trip up this summer after school is out. We hope to take them to the Smokey Mtns and maybe Dollywood. Checking into renting a cabin for a couple of days. The middle grandaughter wants to visist an aquarium there is suppose to be one in the area.

Well not alot of anything going on here. I really need to try and keep up with this blog.

SNOW

We are having some unusually cold and snowy weather. Its suppose to snow the next 3 days and we are going to have below 0 degree temps! Brrrrr! I hope it clears by Saturday as we have to drive the kids back to FL. We may have to leave sooner. Hoping tomorrow won't be bad. Just have to keep checking the weather. The grandaughters have to be back to school on Monday! They have exams to make up.

We took the oldest daughter to the airport yesterday to fly back to FL. Hopefully, she had a good time. Thats a 2 hour drive to Nashville. It was snowing when we left our house at 9:30 am and then the closer we got to Nashville, the snow stopped and it was sun shiney. We had left early just in case. She had to be there 1 and 1/2 hours before flight time. SHe got off ok and called us when she arrived in Tampa. On the way home we stopped in Cookeville youngest daughter and I got our hair cut. Then it was off to Penneys to exchange some Christmas gifts. They had some good clearance sales with 70% off! Then it was off to Sams club for our monthly shopping and then home. We got a couple of pizza's at Sams and oldest grandaughter had the oven preheated by the time we got home in 20 minutes we had the first pizza cooked. And enough left over for lunch today.

Well not alot going on. Will be housebound the next couple of days since temps are suppose to drop to zero. Its only 15 degrees now!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

I know its been quite awhile since I have written on my blog I have either been busy working or trying to get some Christmas gifts and crafts made.

We have a housefull. Both daughters are here from FL. The girls were thrilled to see snow for the first time when we brought them up from FL on Dec 2oth. It snowed today a little and despite the cold, they were out there playing in it. The girls love to take the 4 wheeler down the trails. Our neighbor lets us go on his property. Chuck took Kristy out (our middle child) looking for arrowheads and she found one and needless to say was thrilled. I don't think any of them realized how cold it would be here Kristy and the girls were here for Thanksgiving last year so thought that it would be in the 40's instead, its in the high 20's and low 30's daytime and in the low teens at night!

Christmas was a small affair but fun anyway. We got both daughters clothes and since one of Kristy's girls broke her digital camera, we found her one on sale on Black Friday at Walmar. The girls got new MP3 players and clothes. Everyone has pitched in to help cook dinners especially on the 3 nights during the week that I have to work (at home with medical transcription). The girls made some chocolate chip cookies and some sugar cookies (grandpa's favorite). We also made some pumpkin bread. I would like to make some homemade ice cream while they are here. Oldest daughter Lisa, flies home on Monday and we drive the others back to FL on the 8th or 9th. Will spend the night with son Stephen and his fiancie. They just bought a house and closed before we got to FL on Dec 16th so we were able to stay there for a couple of days and help them get stuff moved in. They got a bank owned foreclosure and it was half the price of what it sold for two years before. I would say that they lucked out as bank owned houses seem to take forever to close on.

We spent New Years Eve at home just fixed a bunch of finger foods and watched movies. New Years day we had our traditional ham and today I fixed split pea soup with the ham bone. Everyone seemed to like it and the grandaughters said they had never had it and liked it. Tomorrow night its London Broil which they requested. We also fixed Beef fondue, lasagna and chicken almondine. Still have a couple more of their favorites to fix.

Well I think that I will watch a little TV so will sign off for now.