Backyard Critters

This morning I was looking off the back porch and I saw a bunch of about 20 turkeys meandering along our fence line headed for the woods atop the hill.  So - I figured this would be a good time to try out my 70-300mm zoom lens that I got a couple months ago.  I had tried a couple of times but couldn't get the focus right.  Since these guys were about 3-400 feet down the hillside - it should be easier to focus on them. 

 

 

For my first shot I zoomed in on the closest group and snapped off two real quick photos.  Just as I was lowering my camera to double check on how the focus looked in the picture, 4 or 5 of the turkeys let out squawks, took to wing, then settled back on the ground.  I forgot about checking the focus and took aim again but the turkeys had moved further up the hill.

 

So I re-focused, took a couple more quick shots then headed back into the house to download and edit the photos that I had taken.  Low and behold as I was enlarging my first photos, I found out why the turkeys had spooked. 

If you look in the foreground, bottom center, you'll see one of our wild cats headed back up the hill after a defeated attempt to get himself a turkey dinner.  I'm not sure he'd have known what to do with it after he caught it because these turkeys are not the little birds he's used to.  I'd sure have liked to watch it though if he had grabbed one.  Now that would have been a picture.  By the way, the lens worked fine, it appears to be more operator error on previous attempts.













Crappy Weather

For the past three days it has been raining and chilly.  The ground is so saturated on the mountain that I'm wondering what's holding the house up.  When you walk across the yard the ground is squishy.  It's just plain dismal out there. 

 

 

This is what it has looked like off my front porch for the past few days.  It's so foggy out there you can hardly see the road.  This is the kind of weather people drive off the side of the mountain in.  Not me - I ain't going nowhere in this stuff, especially driving around in it.  Luckily it doesn't last forever.  Today it was clearing and the sun actually came out and the ground fog disappeared.  Whew!  We were starting to get cabin fever.  Just another day on the mountain.  But - it's still too wet to go out walking on the logging roads.  I was gonna take the 4 wheeler out for a spin but I'd be throwing mud all over me in the process - so maybe in a few days.  With all the rain we've had there should be lots of arrowheads lying around.  The water is still running off the mountain and the creeks and rivers are really up and running high.  Couldn't ask for better conditions to find these artifacts but you have to be able to carry about 20 lbs of mud on your boots to go out just now.  All in good time.

We did manage to get most of the Christmas decorations down before the weather set in so that's one chore over with until next year.  Still got the New Year to go then everything will be back to a more normal pace.  So - with a smile on my face, a prayer in my heart and hope for the future, we in the Elston household wish all of you a safe and happy New Year.  See you on the other side!!!

 



Christmas 2014

Wow - where did the year go.  It's already Christmas and the New Year is looming on the horizon.  This year it's just Cathy and I having a quiet Christmas together.  For the first time in a long time, we had carolers come to the house singing Christmas carols.  Wasn't a real big crowd and we knew most of them.  We invited them in to warm up and for some hot cider and cookies.  We enjoyed it but always miss the kids and grand kids this time of year.  To all our friends - you to Barb - Cathy and I hope you had a wonderful Christmas and we wish you a joyful and prosperous New Year.

 

We really missed Christmas with our newest grandson, Kai. He was born in October and this was his first Christmas.  Maybe next year Stephen and Lisa will be able to bring him up for a visit at Christmas time.

 

 

Merry Christmas "little man" - hope to see ya soon.



 



 I got quite the surprise for Christmas this year.  Cathy found a great deal on a 12" double bevel compound miter saw with laser guide.  Actually - the guy I work with, Ken, found it on Harbor Freight and emailed the notice to her.  He told me about it and I discussed it with Cathy but she pointed out that we could use the money elsewhere, to which I agreed :(   As it turns out, she had already ordered it after talking with Ken.  

 

This saw will do everything I could possibly need.  Now I have no reason to tell Cathy "no" to any project she comes up with.  Smart gal that Cathy.  Which leads right into her newest project.  She's sick and tired of the hollow core interior doors we have.  I just happened to mention this to Ken and he pointed out that he had two solid wood doors that he had ordered but the people we were building for had preferred another style.  Since they were special order ($120 each) he couldn't return them and offered them to me at 2 for 1. 

 

I took a picture of the door, showed it to Cathy and she liked it.  So - this is my next project.  Only have two of them for right now.  Will give them three coats of polyurethane, then hang em.  I had to cut about 3/4 to an inch off the bottom of both of them.  For some reason our door openings are not the standard height.
And just when things were going soooo well - Cathy had a fall.  Early Monday morning Cathy fell on her back in the bathroom and hurt her hip/lower back.  Gave us one hell of a scare.  Doc took an x-ray of her lower back and everything seems to be ok.  Appears to be a deep muscle bruise and boy is it painful.  She's having trouble sitting or laying in one position of any length of time.  It's particularly bothersome at night when she's trying to sleep.  Has to keep changing positions about every hour or so and needs help getting in and out of bed, again.  Accidents happen but boy this is kind of setting her back on her exercise schedule.  Patience is what we need but she sure doesn't need anymore pain at this stage of the game.  We'll just have to be more careful and I'll have to keep a closer eye on her.
Will probably have a few more days of construction work next week before Ken starts a new bathroom remodel job.  I may do some of the demolition for that job but will be off till he finishes that project.  I'll enjoy the down time.  Maybe get to do some arrow head hunting.  We've had a lot of rain lately and I can just hear them calling my name.  Oh - Well - till next time.

 

 

 



Life Returns to Normal

Cathy had her surgery on 30 Oct and we returned home Nov 3.  Surgery was an absolute success and she had no leg pain.  She had suffered from this for over 4 months and now finally has relief.  It's soooo good to be home.  We can actually sleep for a change instead of being wakened every 2 hours for vitals.  I do have to admit tho, the hospital staff, from the housekeeping through surgeons, were totally professional and caring.  The RN's and their Aids were always there when needed and put the care on a somewhat personal level.  Cathy and I were really impressed with the quality of care and, I have to admit, even the food was kinda good.  But as my Dad used to say, anything's good when you're hungry.  Now we transition to home care which is me.  This surgery was a laminectomy and a fusion of two upper lumbar vertebra (L2-L3).  Apparently the lower lumbar had already fused by itself due to the arthritis she has.  Basically the Neurosurgeon removed a small part of the vertebra to allow the spinal chord to expand unrestricted, which relieved Cathy's leg pain.  Neither of us could imagine an alternative to this surgery.  The pain would have continued to worsen until she was completely disabled.  Thank God this type of surgery was available.  But it takes a lot to keep Cathy down and she's already working at a daily routine of walking to strengthen her back and regain some of the activity we used to do.  We used to hike about 2 miles along the logging road 3 times a week but since this pain hit, Cathy couldn't even walk to the mailbox at the end of our driveway.  Progress will be somewhat slow but she'll get there.
While we were away at the hospital, our mountain received 2 inches of snow.  That was on Halloween and boy was it unexpected.  We only saw a dusting in Cookeville, which is an hour to the southwest.  Amazing what a little distance can do.  Anyway - lots to do and catch up on so I'll say Ta Ta for now.

Fall is Here

Guess it's about time!  I finally updated the blog lead-in photo to a Fall picture of our house.  Temps have been in the mid-60's during the day and mid-upper 30's at nighty - so it's either late fall or early winter.  Not sure when the first day of winter is but I bet it's getting close.  They're predicting a heavy frost for tomorrow morning.  I've noticed that our mountain forests are not as colorful as they probably used to be.  They have harvested most of the hemlock and a lot of the maples and other hardwoods that have the more colorful leaves during the fall changes.  In fact, most of the trees remaining are assorted softwood firs and pines and a few hardwood species of oaks and hickory.  There's also a whole lot of junk trees such as the sycamore and sweet gum etc.  I imagine there's a lot more species of trees than what I know about but unless you get into an older growth forest, you don't usually see the vivid color like they have in the northern states like Maine and Vermont.
Ah Well - I just finished up a project for a homeowner over near Picket State Park.  He was not able to find anyone to help with scraping and painting the upper reaches of his home.  So - I volunteered to give him a hand.  I must admit it was a bit precarious but we got it done anyway. 

 

 

 

It's about 33' to the peak of the roof.  I was really glad they had that cross beam up there.  Even though it was decorative it gave me a place to put the paint bucket and help me free up a hand to hang on with.  I'm sure OSHA would not approve of my methods but it worked.  And so tomorrow, back to the mundane work of installing insulation and framing etc etc.  Looking forward to some light work for a change where I can keep both feet on the ground.

Just finished talking with my son, Stephen.  He was telling me that our new grandson, Kai, is a real quiet baby and a sleeper.  They have to wake him up for feedings and unless he's wet or has a stomach ache, he just sleeps.  I told Stephen to enjoy it cause it's unusual.  But then, Stephen was the same way.  When we brought him home we were expecting to do shifts to cover the all night vigils associated with babies and the wet diapers and every two hour feedings.  Didn't happen with Stephen.  Anyway, he and his wife, Lisa, are coping well and are adjusting to parenthood.  Well - that's about it for now.  

 

Noah's Weather

Firstly - We've recently had a new addition to the Elston Family Tree.  A new Grandson, Baby Kai, Born 11 Oct, weighing in at 7lbs 9ozs to Stephen and Lisa.

Unfortunately Cathy and I were unable to be there but we'll try to make it up in the not to distant future.  He looks just like his Daddy.  Welcome aboard Kai and standby for the adventures in your life.

Wow - It's been raining nearly everyday for the past two weeks.  This has got to be the wettest summer/fall I've ever seen.

  I'm probably gonna have to mow the yard one more time cause it's green and growing.  I was reminded this morning by a good friend, that this blog was delinquent on entries and she was absolutely right.  I've been quite remiss and will try to regain my self-esteem by being more diligent. RIGHT!!!  Anyway - my sister Diane came for a week visit this month.  She does internet medical transcription and has trouble finding time to get away but she finally made it.

As luck would have it, the weather was perfect for an afternoon on Dale Hollow Lake so we took a lunch and lazied around on the lake.

Good thing we took advantage of the opportunity cause the next day the weather turned to crap and has been that way almost everyday since.  We still had a good time.  Took her to O'Charley's in Cookeville for a prime rib dinner.  Always enjoy this meal which, admittedly, is loaded with cholesterol, but Wow - what a steak.  Our waiter, Josh, recommended we try a locally brewed lager beer, Calf Killer, which is brewed near Sparta, Tennessee and it has become our favorite with this meal.  Cathy and I usually eat here in the early afternoon but this time it was much later and Josh had just finished his shift but he stayed around to wait our table and chat, as usual.  Needless to say, his dedication was duly reflected in his tip.
Just recently Cathy was diagnosed with spinal stenosis.  It has been causing her extreme pain in the lower back and legs.  She is now scheduled for back surgery for a laminectomy and fusion of the spine on 30 October.  Although we're both apprehensive, we're also looking forward at not having to deal with the continuous pain - we hope.  As always, there's no guarantee the surgery will relieve all the pain but it has to help some.  Neither of us has had more than an hour of sleep at a time and it is taking it toll on our nerves.   Well, that about catches the blog up to date.  Thanks Barb for the reminder.  Until next time, Ta Ta...

A Real Southern Crop

For those of us of Northern extraction, this is an unusual sight.  Just as cotton fields are foreign to us, so to are tobacco harvests.  As a former smoker, I never really considered where the tobacco came from, who was involved or how it was processed.

I was told by one farmer, who raises tobacco, that the cost of planting and maintaining a tobacco crop is astronomical and a huge gamble on profit.  Because of this, most farmers do not plant it as a primary crop but as a supplementary source of income.  These photos represent this Septembers harvest.  Once cut the tobacco leaves are hung to dry then sold at various tobacco markets for further processing.  Next summer I'll visit this subject again with photos of the earlier stages of planting and growth thru harvest.  Cathy and I were driving around Byrdstown when we came across these tobacco barns and drying racks.  It wasn't long ago, early August I believe, when we were driving through Kentucky and was watching a farmer harvest cotton with a huge cotton picker (not sure what they call them today).  This thing was cutting at least 20-30 rows of cotton at one time.  I'm gonna see if I can find another farmer that works cotton and try to get some pics of that as well. 

Morning mist

Headed out this morning to do some work on the other side of the county, about 25 miles away and happened to look back as I was headed up the mountain.  Thought it was a nice soft picture.

 

Didn't stop to think that I'd be driving thru that stuff on my way east but boy did I.  It gets so thick at times that you can't see the edge of the road and, in these mountains where we don't have many guard rails, you have to really be careful.  It could be a long way down, as you can see from this next picture. 

 



 

 

Yup - that ain't no illyusion - that thar be a Tennessee hill.  Actually this is state rte 127 going north from Jamestown toward Kentucky.  If you look kinda close you'll notice the road curves to the left but then it goes into an "S" curve and you're still going down hill at the same angle.  Some of the log and rock haulers have an exciting time going down this thing.  Two days ago they had this roadway blocked and were rerouting traffic.  I assume someone overshot one of those curves and wound up going over the mountain.  We'll be reading about it in the newspaper if they did.  Hope no one was hurt.    Later 

Killing time with a walkabout

After a hard nights torrential rainfall, I figured today would be good for walking the logging road below the house looking for arrowheads.  I was right.  The hard rain had uncovered a couple of good finds.

The top find is about 3 inches long and was actually broken.  If you look closely you can see a crack about half way up the arrowhead.  I immediately picked out the bottom half and saw that it was a new break.  Donald, the guy that does the logging, moved a lot of ground with his bulldozer and probably broke it in the process.  So I kept looking around and sure enough, about 3 yards away I found the top half.  Haven't been able to identify it yet.  The second find looks to be a repurposed arrowhead.  It was probably broken beyond repair so it was reshaped into a scrapper or thumb knife.

 

This point I found in the same area.  It's a Kanawha Stemmed dating back 5,000 - 8,200 years.  It's an unusual find for this area as they're more associated with West Virginia, which actually isn't all that far away.  I don't know what material it's made from either as I don't recall any pure white chert/flint around this area.  I put numbers on them to help me remember their identity and where I found them.

 



Again - this broken point was found in the same area I usually hunt.  Fortunately I found the best part which is the base where most of the identification features are.  This I identified as a Little Bear Creek which dates 1,500 - 4,000 years ago.

 



And lastly, another broken point, but the best part.  I found this down by the logging mill about 1.5 miles down the mountain from the house.  It's unique enough that I should be able to identify this one.  Are ya bored yet??  Looking at arrowheads is kinda like watching a tennis match, unless you're really into it - you loose interest quickly.
Ah well - about a week after the kids left, Cathy had a bursectomy.  She had been having a severe bout with bursitis in her left hip for about 2 months and her doctor finally told her that his last resort would be to remove the bursa sack that was inflamed.  So - that's what we did.  It was same day surgery and took about 45 minutes.  It got rid of the pain she'd been having but the location of the surgery is proving to be a difficult issue.  It's hard for her to sit for any length of time and getting into and out of bed is also a pain, no pun intended.  Things are looking up tho as everyday she gets a little better and the pain a little less.  We are getting back to normal well enough that the neighbor came down and asked her if she wanted any more tomatoes.   Cathy has never turned down tomatoes so - -
we processed about 30 pounds of them buggers and got 13 pints of spaghetti sauce.

Now to figure out what to do with the remaining 40 pounds or so.  I'm sure Cathy will come up with something.  She's toying with the idea of tomato soup, which I think is a super idea.  Love tomato soup with grilled cheese sandwich.  We already froze a bunch and canned plain tomatoes.  They always come in handy during the winter.  I guess that's about all for now.  Ta Ta

Whirlwind August

Wow - these past few weeks have been like in "Fast Forward" mode for Cathy and I.  Cathy has been having a real bad time with bursitis in both hips, the right side much worse.  Went to her orthopedic Dr. and he had had her on pain meds and anti-inflammatory (Ibuprophen).   It helped but didn't seem to be getting any better.  So - now she is scheduled for a bursectomy on the 19th of Aug.  During Cathy's bout with discomfort, our daughter, Kristy, arrived (23 July) with her four children for a 3 week visit.  Her oldest is 18 and the youngest is 14 months. 

We weren't sure until the last minute that she was going to be able to come to Tennessee for a summer visit.  But - they made it.  The last time they were here at Christmas 2013, Hunter, the little guy, fell off the bed and fractured his leg.  Now he's a real handful as are most little boys.

 

He sure likes his Gma's cooking.

 

He's a real "Cool Hand Luke"

 

Lilly Marie is absolutely certified "horse crazy."  She runs around the house and yard neighing like a horse and galloping everywhere.  So we contacted a friend that has horses and arranged for her to ride a real one.  She was blown away and never expected it.  Back when she was a lot younger and I had our horse "Jim", Lilly was scared to death of him.  But the next time she came up she was enamored with him and unfortunately that was the time when we had to put him down.  I believe we can say that Lilly had a good time at Gma's.

And what visit to Gpa's would be complete without the guys going 4 wheeling ~ ~ well does just sitting on one count.  Hunter thought so.  Of course, when the grandparents have a pontoon you just have to spend some time on the lake - right.

 

 

  Well - throughout their visit we had some real pleasant weather but we also had a few days of this -

The kids were amazed that you could actually watch the rain approaching from over the mountains and watch it pass by.  Unfortunately all good things come to an end and they had to leave today, headed back to Florida.  Its a hard 12 hour drive with four kids, but Jynna Mae helps with the driving and that takes a load off Kristy.  Kaylee is also a helper in watching the little ones during the travel so the workload is spread around.  We just love having them visit but it usually only happens once a year or sometimes twice a year if we're lucky and can afford it.  Like I said, it was a whirlwind but a truly enjoyable visit.  The grand daughters and Kristy pitched in and made the work load on Cathy a whole lot easier.  With Cathy's surgery scheduled for next week, we'll be in flap mode until her rehab  is complete.  Not sure how long it will take her to get back to normal mobility but I guess we'll find out.

More Stuff

Got some pictures of my 50th class reunion that were sent to us by a classmate Joyce Holley.

Amazingly, this cake accurately pictured our old high school building in Kinmundy, Illinois, a town with the population of about 900 in 1964.

Our School colors were purple and white.

That's Cathy, my wife, on the right sitting next to classmate Patsy Rose.  Between these two gals you can see my cousin Junie (John) and his wife Juanita.  I hadn't seen Junie in over 10 years.

 
 
 
 
 

 

 This be my sister Diane and I.  We sat just across the table from Cathy and Patsy.

 Me shaking hands with classmate Eddie See.  Eddie and I were at our last class reunion.

 

This is Junie again.  We were asked to stand and give a brief history of our lives since graduating.  Naturally everyone was reluctant to stand and talk, yours truly included.  But good ole Junie took care of that.  As soon as he had finished - he pointed across the room at me and put me on the spot to be the next victim.  So - we always obey our elders, right. 

Yup.  I did and kept it mighty short. 

This is our entire class gathered for a picture.  Out of a class of 42 there were 30 of us attending the 50th class reunion.  There was one guy, Marvin (Butch) Barbee who was there but he's not in this photo.  It was really an enjoyable afternoon of renewing old acquaintances and reliving some old memories.

Now for more mundane things.

Yup - more canning.  This is about 30 lbs or a half bushel of Romano tomatoes that Cathy specifically uses for her tomato sauce.  They're meatier and have a lot less juice than the regular tomatoes.  We wound up with  7 pint jars and 3 quart jar of sauce.  That should see us through the winter months but we'll probably can another batch just to give to the neighbors. 

 

Check another off the Honey-do list

Firstly - I figured it was about time to update the blog photo of the house.  I was up around 5am so thought it was as good a time as any.  Everything looked nearly perfect - the sun was just breaking the horizon and had a red glow to it,  the front of the house has light shadow across the porch area and the background mountains showed the typical lifting fog that gives them a smokey look.  But - by the time I got what I thought was going to be a good shot the sun had moved up farther on the horizon and the lighting was starting to overpower the picture.  I took it right quick before it got any worse.  So there you have it - 5:30am on our mountain.
I finally got Cathy's high priority item checked off the Honey-do list.  She wanted her living room done over and that's what we did.

 

It took about 3 days with both of us working together.  We moved all the furniture into the middle of the room, took down all the wall decorations, removed all the wooden trim from floors, doors and windows, and filled all the holes in the walls and sanded them smooth.  This wasn't just the living room cause this house is an open floor plan.  So it included the kitchen, dining room, and utility room.  Cathy had already decided she wanted a chair rail, crown molding, two tone walls and darker trim, and that's what she got.  She painted most of the trim and moldings while I painted all the walls.  I cheated on the crown molding cause I hate cutting the compound miter for the corners (upside down and backwards) and at my age, I'm easily confused.  Actually age has nothing to do with it.  Anyway I used the quick corners from Lowes.  All you do is run the molding up to the corner then set the corner piece that joins both pieces of crown molding.  I never realized just how out of square/plumb walls and ceilings could be until I started this project.  I even added some new words to my vocabulary.  Got a little more touch work to do and we'll be done.  NEXT!!!!!

And the beat goes on - -

More canning.  It's the thing to do when the time is right.  We're just now finishing up all the canned goods that Cathy put up last year and it really saved on our grocery bill.  We still have some of the frozen fruit left.  Went back to Somerset, Kentucky and got more corn and green beans to put up.

That bag holds about a bushel of corn which we shucked and then cut the corn off the cob.

 Joe, our neighbor, had also brought us about a peck of cucumbers so Cathy processed them also.  Found this dude in with the qukes

 

Two growing off a single bud.  Still cucumber though.

 

And there you have the results.  Fourteen pints and 4 quarts of corn and 8 qts of dill pickles.  Ah - so now we get to rest - right, Uh uh.  Next week it's peach season.  We get a bushel of peaches from South Carolina and process them also.  We can mostly but vacuum pak and freeze some for that really fresh flavor.  We only have 2 qts of peaches left from last years canning season.  Thank God it's been cooler lately or we'd be sweltering with all the heat this canning gives off.  Now I'll take them down under the house for storage.  It's not actually a basement.  The house was built into the hill side so the land slopes under the house and there's a fairly large space underneath that stays the same temperature as the inside of our house.  Excellent for storage.  I even have a potato ben for long term storage of potatoes and onions. 
Been doing more research on the family genealogy.  I mentioned in an earlier post that we had stopped in Olney, Illinois to research the county records.  I found a bill of sale for the grave site of Lewis P. Elston.  It conveys the grave from John B. Porter, who appears to have been the Funeral Director in Olney at the time.  So this piece of paper confirms the burial spot for Lewis.  Now all I have to do is confirm his Civil War record and I can petition the government for a military marker for his grave.  Currently, his grave is unmarked.

His grave is located just to the left of the pink granite marker in the upper right side of the photo. 
 I hate seeing unmarked graves, even though I understand that not everyone can afford the prices charged for stones these days.  I was sexton for a 50 acre city cemetery for over 6 years and remember so many graves went unmarked.  I tried to ensure that our records were current and accurate so that everyone buried there was accounted for and could be easily located, even without a marker.  Next trip up that way I'm gonna try to talk to the caretaker of the Olney city cemetery to see how they manage and who installs their monuments.  Oh well, onward and upward.