Day Trip

Cathy's got a wild hair and wants to go to Crossville today.  Mentioned it last nite but I wasn't too excited.  I really hate that drive.  Don't know why but it just seems to take forever.  Anywho  it's a rainy, dismal day so why not.  We'll see if she still wants to go and try to turn it into something interesting, like shopping at Lowes Heh Heh!!

New Arrowhead finds

Actually they are called projectile points or points.

 

The first one was probably a knife or thrusting point based on its size.  Unfortunately the hafting end or base is missing so I can't identify it.  Both edges are still very sharp.  The second point poses the same difficulty in identifying because of the broken base.  I haven't given up completely yet since there is a program that allows you to scan in the original point then draw in the shape that would fit or closely match the original.  If you look closely at the top cutting edge of the 2nd point you will notice that it is not as curved as the lower cutting edge.  That's because the person who made it reshaped it probably after it was damaged somehow.  The actual knapping or edging matches on both cutting sides of the point.  

 

 

I believe that I had posted this point not long ago and have been doing some research.  I'm gonna identify it as a Bakers Creek type projectile point.  That will date it Late Archaic to Woodland period or 4000 - 1300 years Before Present (BP).   This point has been worked so thin that if you hold it up to the light you can see light through the edges, which is also one of the keys to its identification.  The first two artifacts were found in a new hunting area for me.  I had a local young man rough cut some wood for me so I could finish putting the roof on my outlying shed.  When I went down to his saw mill, I was standing next to the saw table and looked down and found a crushed point.  I picked it up and showed him and he commented that he came across them all the time down there but he didn't actually go looking for them.  So, I asked his permission to hunt for artifacts on his property and he agreed.  These were the first that I found on his property.  Of course, I agreed to split any fortune that I might find.  All jokes aside, some of these projectile points can bring some tall money.  Not long ago one sold for over $30,000.  But - I don't hold my breath.  I just like the challenge of finding and identifying them.  Neat hobby.

AWOL Cats

Well - we're going into the 3rd day that our adult male and two kittens wandered off.  We haven't seen them since.  It's probable that the male went down to the corner to see what's shaken' with the girls in the neighborhood and the kittens got lost in the shuffle.  Who knows.  I do know that when they all showed up here they were undernourished.  So - Don't know where they're eating these days.  All we can do is hope.  But - all is not lost.  We still have "Skeeter" hanging around.  He's joined our porch cats inside the screened area so he's safe from outside predators. 

  

He's attached himself to our own little black and white that we call Bandit and he fits his name.  These two are always rolling around and licking each other.  I guess Skeeter has adjusted to his new surroundings and is adapting well.  We still hold out hope for the other 3 returning safely...

Unusual Cat Behavior

Yesterday I watched as the adult male cat, we call Tigger, walked away with two of the three kittens.  They jumped down off the back deck, headed over toward our old shed and went inside.  I assumed they were looking for a cooler location.  However, they left a little black and white male, we call Skeeter, behind.  That was early afternoon.  Around 5 or 6 PM I heard small caliber rifle shots from just down the mountain but didn't think much about it cause our neighbors target practice and hunt often.  Anyway later in the evening, when it was feeding time, they still hadn't returned which is very unusual cause they seldom miss mealtime.  Went ahead and fed Skeeter, who didn't seem to be very hungry.  Cathy and I discussed bringing the lone kitten into the house for the night just to be safe but finally decided that we would leave him out on the deck just in case the others returned.  Checked again this morning and they still aren't back.  Now I am getting a little concerned and plan to go on a walk about to see if I can find the missing brood.  In the meantime we're bringing Skeeter in the house for safekeeping.  More later.

Rainy Days and Mondays

Well it ain't Monday but it sure is dismal, as it was on Monday.  It's been raining off and on for the past week.  I really need to mow the yard - it's sooo wet you can hear the grass growing.  Went out this morning at 0700 and took this pic of our surroundings and I feel like I'm in England, waiting for the werewolf to jump out of a bush. Oh - sorry they only come out at night on full moon. 

Ah well - I'll get over it.  Since we couldn't do much else, yesterday Cath and I headed up into Kentucky to Monticello to look at a slide-in truck camper.  Turned out it was too big for my truck but we did find a couple of vegetable farms up there and got some real good deals.  They raise all their own vegetables right on the farm so you know what your getting is local.  I didn't put in a garden this year cause I got tired of putting in all the work and loosing all the crop to bugs and weather.  But we have a kinda love/hate relationship with our uphill neighbor.  He loves to have us plant in his garden and we hate planting there cause we have to go up there to work it.  Not really - they're super neighbors and we did plant some cucumbers and squash up there.  Anyway - his garden is taking some big hits this summer - blight on the tomatoes, Japanese beetles eating everything (specially the beans), deer eating the sweet potato plants (never saw this before) and now that the corn is up and about ready - the raccoons will be coming in full force.  Like Joe says, they gotta eat to.  Well -- we bought about 1/2 bushel of tomatoes for $8.  The locals call them "canning tomatoes" cause they're ugly - kind of lumpy and all and most city folk won't buy them cause they ain't purdy.

We thought they were really good tomatoes and talk about big.  Two of them would about make a pound.  Since the neighbor's aren't doing so well, we're gonna talk with them today and see if they want some of these cause we're going back up to Ky today and get some more veggies.  They got it all eggplant, squash, green beans, cucumbers, corn, a wide variety of tomatoes, potatoes, peppers etc etc.  Guess that's enough blabber'n for today.  Later....

Nursing Male Cat

Ya gotta see this!!  Remember - this is a male cat that brought 3 kittens to our back porch.

 Yup - there's two kittens trying to nurse on this male cat.  Cathy calls him mommadaddy cat.  His nipples are blood red on the tips, kinda like a hickie I guess.  He just rolls over when they start nudging him like they want to nurse.  What a cat.  Never seen anything like this before.  Almost afraid to get him neutered for fear it'll change his demeanor.

Dale Hollow Lake outing

Well - as promised.  I took Cathy out for a day of relaxation and lunch at Mike's Landing in Sulfur Creek Marina. There are about 17 marinas on Dale Hollow and we've found that Mike's has some of the best food at the best prices.

We took a short jaunt over to our usual spot, which is about a 10 minute boat ride.  It's a small inlet that is somewhat protected from all the other traffic, skiers, tubers etc.  Anywho  Cathy read for a bit then took a nap while I read and puttered around.  About 4:15PM we headed out for Sulfur Creek.

Sulfur Creek Marina is about a 25 min ride into Kentucky waters.  It's a medium sized marina with lots of boat parking but the visitor docks are a little rundown.  They're still sturdy enough but the surface is really rough and splintery. Still - well worth the trip.

We had our usual Mike's Landing Burger with iced tea and homemade potato chips.  It was just enough without feeling stuffed for only $6.97 each.  Then we hit the trail again.  Get a load of this boat that was parked in the marina.  It was sooooo long that he had to back it in cause the bow would have blocked the walkway.  Actually he probably backed it in to protect aft end and cabin. It was really close on the sides to.  Either he's really good a maneuvering or he had lots of help.  I wouldn't even attempt it.

And this was the fitting end of a typical Dale Hollow Day.  Catchy Huh!  Hope ya'll enjoyed it as much as we did.....    

Beautiful Day

After putting up the flag and feeding the cats, I noticed that it's a really gorgeous day out.  So I'm thinking that it's a good day to spend on the lake.  I think I'll talk Cathy into heading out to Sulfur Creek marina for lunch.  They make the bestest hamburgers and homemade tater chips on the lake and the price is really reasonable for a marina.  It's located just over the state line in Kentucky and about a 25 minute boat ride from Star Point marina where we keep our boat.  Hum, yep, I think that'll do nicely for an outing.  Cathy really needs a break.  She spent the last couple of days canning and making jelly.

She put up about 8 quarts of tomatoes, 10 qts of peaches, bunches of dill and bread and butter pickles, zucchini pickles, peach jam and some plum/nectarine jam that Patricia had described in her "Mountain Living" blog.  So she's been real busy and on her feet a lot.  I know she could use the leisure time and that's what we're gonna do today.  I'll take pics and write about it tomorrow.

Kittens

These are the little critters that turned up on our porch the other day.  We had put some chopped up pork on the deck for the older cat (tigger) and the kittens tried eating it but couldn't keep it down.  So, we quickly put some milk in a bowl and that was a winner.  They seemed to be able to chew up and digest the dry cat food in the dispenser.  Just to be safe, we opted for softer, canned cat food which really went over well.  Tigger checked it out then stepped back while the grimlins chowed down.  I'd guess that they're about 8 wks old or so.  We're also thinking that tigger is a very young male cause he isn't acting like an adult male.  Time will tell.  I think the vet will be able to give us a good guess on tigger's age.

More Cats

Well - for the past month we have had a male cat, very light tiger stripe, that's been hanging around and eating our free food that we put out.  He's wild but not totally scared.  We haven't been able to get anywhere near him.  Anyway, a couple of days ago I went out and low and behold here he is with three little kittens tagging along.  They're totally wild and absolutely starved.  You could see their back bones and ribs.  So - here we go again.  This is totally weird.  I've never seen a male cat taking care of kittens.  Unless this is a really young male, they usually kill off the kittens to force the female back into heat.  We called the vet and she agreed - it's strange.  But she says if we'll tame them down - she'll take them in and see that they have good homes.  I'll post pictures as soon as I get some.  It's really funny watching this male cat groom and clean these kittens.  It looks like two males (one black and white and a grey tabby) and a female (tortie).  The adult male, we call him tigger, places himself between us and the kittens anytime we go out on the porch and he pushes and herds them away from us whenever they roam too close.  I've never seen anything like it.  More later.........

Canning Time!

Well today was first time canning. Husband went up to the neighbors to hoe our cucumber and squash plants up at the neighbors garden (we didn't get one planted this year just to wet!) so Joe said come up and plant up there. Anyhow Chuck came home with Vidalia onions, green peppers, tomatoes and cucumbers. So today I did 2 qts and 2 pints of kosher dill pickles and 7 pints of bread and butter pickles. I had some ripe tomatoes but not enough to can so just got the skin off and froze them. Tomorrow it will be zucchini pickles and maybe peaches. We got a bushel of peaches (SC) at the fruit stand yesterday and a box of tomatoes and a few zucchini squash. I miss having a garden out back oh well maybe next year.

We were going to go out on the boat today but hubby needed to mow as the grass was getting high and its suppose to rain tomorrow. I was hoping to get out tomorrow on the lake. Maybe next week.

When I get my canning done I want to make some pasta and bread. I got a kitchen aid mixer and the pasta attachments were mailed to me after I filled out their form. I have since gotten the ice cream maker, juicer and meat grinder.  I have made pizza dough with it and cinnamon  rolls the bread didn't turn out so good so will try again this time with bread flour.

Arrow Head Hunting

Well now - It finally quit raining for a few hours.  The sun is out and I decided to take a walk down the logging roads, on the side of the mountain, to see if the washouts from our recent rains revealed any of our ancient history.  I do this periodically, especially after heavy rains but have found nothing for a few months.  Today, however, was different.

 

 

The first picture is the arrow head or point as it lay when I found it and the second pic is after I got it cleaned up at home.  It looks greyer in the first pic because it was dry and in the sunlight.  After I cleaned it up, actually I just washed it under running water and brushed it off, the color changed somewhat due to the oils from my hand rubbing off on the surface of the point.  It will eventually lighten up again.  My neighbor also found one while he was working in his garden just up the road.

 

They're both about 1 1/2 inches long and about 3/4 inch wide.  I haven't identified either to a specific type yet but I'm working on it.  I believe they both date from 6000 - 4000 BP (Before Present) which would place them in the Middle to Late Archaic period.  I have accumulated quite a collection since I got here and really enjoy hunting for them and researching their history.  Most of them were probably used during hunting because most of them have impact damage and were probably lost or left behind.  This area of the mountain has heavy limestone deposits that are loaded with the chert or flint that the ancients used for projectile points, knives, drills, scrapers etc.  Enough pointology 101.

 



Another RAINY Day In Tennessee

I really needed to finish mowing the hill in the front of the house before it started raining again -  but - Cathy said she'd make me a blackberry cobbler if I'd go pick the blackberries --- Guess what happened next!!??!!

 

 

Yep - I got my little bucket and went after some of them delectable edibles.  However, I have some competition.  Seems the turkeys have beaten me to the punch, and based on the height that the berries are missing and the trampling, so did the bears.  They apparently get up earlier than I do.  But more bothersome is the fact that these berry bushes are less than 25 feet from my house.  I know there are bears up here cause I've seen the tracks down on the logging road just below the house but ain't seen any this close yet.  Guess they were here first tho - so I'll share :) 

Ya never know what you'll run into in the briar patch pick'n berries.  Reckon these fellas were after some sweetener of their own.   

 

 

My luck was good tho - they were more interested in the milkweed flower than me.  I still gave them a plenty of room.  Last year, in this same area, I stumbled into an underground hornets nest and boy was that exciting.  I managed to run up hill without spilling one berry and only got stung once.  When I got back on the porch and looked back down to the field it looked like there was a little black cloud hanging over the area where I had been standing.  Enough excitement for one day.  I'm just waiting on my cobbler. 



 

HAPPY 4th OF JULY

Well - we're still at it.  We finished the crown molding in the master bedroom.

I cheated.  I was a little intimidated by the upside down and backward process of cutting the crown molding so I found these corner pieces that eliminate all that confusion.  They are somewhat decorative and really sped up the work. 
Next we tackled the kitchen.  Since Cathy already had her new appliances all we needed to do was get new counter tops, including one for the island, a new and deeper double sink, and a back splash installed.  First came the butcher block top for the center island.  I ordered it from www.Grizzly.com
The actual top was only around $279 for the 36" x 60" x 1 3/4" thick, pretreated and finished Vermont Maple block.  The shipping was around $80 but it was worth it cause it looks sooooo much better than the old green Formica.
Then we got the main counter top replacement.  It is also formica or laminate but in a new textured, granite simulated finish.  It includes a routed edge that the older formica didn't have.  Then we went to Crossville where there's a tile outlet and bought the 3" x 3" tile for her back splash.  We chose not to have one the new counter top.  I think the back splash was the hardest cause I was working on a vertical plane rather than horizontal.  Actually putting the tile on the wall wasn't really the problem, it was the grout.  If you make it too thick, it dries out too fast and is hard to work.  I guess I made it a little too sloppy cause it kept falling off the trowel onto the counter top.  Oh well, it all worked out and I learned some lessons for the future.

The next big project will be getting a steel roof on the shed out back.  I've spent the past few weeks, when I wasn't working elsewhere, reinforcing the old trusses cause they were starting to sag.  The wood was still in perfect shape but the homemade trusses weren't properly reinforced so the roof was sagging in the middle.  I jacked each one up and reinforced then, to include a large gusset over the main joints and it looks pretty level now.  Not perfect but close enough for me.  I have a guy down the mountain who has a saw mill and is gonna rough cut some poplar 1 x 4 x 12's to use as furring strips on top of the shingles for screwing down the galv-aluminum roof sheets.  I have everything but the  1 x 4's and they should be ready within the next couple of weeks.  Joe, my neighbor, is gonna give me a hand with the roofing.
I wonder what I'm gonna do when all this work is done.  But I'm sure Cathy will come up with something.  We've already discussed building a two car pole barn that I would close in later for a garage.  Hum......