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.