Gett'n Old

 It's amazing just how fast time passes when you look to the past.  I was looking through some of our family picture albums, trying to get more fodder for the next blog travel entry, and came across some pictures of our granddaughter Jynna Mae (good southern name) when she was just a little whipper snapper.  This picture was taken when Jynna was probably 6-8 months old with me, riding on Jim my quarter horse.  We had four horses in all but Jim was the oldest and best.  He was still a stallion and I used him to breed so we could get two of his sons.  Jynna spent the majority of her first year living with us while her momma worked.

And this is Jynna with Gpa on the tractor, obviously not doing much cause it was dark  and cold.  We were obviously getting ready to call it a day.

 

This is Jynna with her mom, our daughter Kristy, with Dusty.  He was born about the same time as Jynna and he became her horse.  Dusty was my stallion's 2nd son and a cross between Jim and an Arab mare.  Jynna and Dusty were as thick as thieves when she was visiting.

And Jynna Mae with her Dusty when they're both just over a year.

She was absolutely fearless around this guy.  Here she has her own saddle but at this point Dusty has not been broken to where she could ride him by herself

.  He's just so easy going that he didn't worry about Jynna Mae being on his back.  I had started conditioning him to saddle before he was a year old and was also putting weighted bags on the saddle prepping him for Jynna.  Now ain't that a cute picture?

Thought I'd add this in as well.  This is me working with Dusty in about 1998 when he was a little over 2 years old.  My neighbor, Bob, was steadying him with a lead rope while I put my weight in the saddle.  This was preceded by lots of pre-conditioning, getting him used to a bit in his mouth and ready to mount.  I had put my weight on the saddle but never in the saddle.  Note the stiff legs, head high, ears back and tight neck.  He's ready to blast off!!

 I made this maneuver numerous times just to get him somewhat used to the movement of my leg over the saddle.  I needed Bob there to steady Dusty's head and help keep him calmed.

 I had just managed to get my leg over his back and into the stirrup on the other side and was reversing the procedure when he decided he wasn't liking this new stuff.  So - off he went but with Bob holding the lead line he couldn't go far.  Cathy was taking the pictures and had the cel phone just in case she had to make an emergency call for an ambulance. 

 We did this several times until I finally decided - what the heck - let's get it over with.  I mounted, shifted my leg over his back into the stirrup on the other side and Dusty was just waiting for me.  He busted out, pulled the lead rope out of Bob's hands and took off across the corral.  He was bucking like a pro and I lasted about 5 seconds.  He threw me into a tree.  Needless to say - Cathy did not get that picture - she was already trying to dial the emergency number till I told her to stop.  It took me about a minute or so to get my breath back - then we started all over again.  He finally settled down and I just let him stand in place with me on his back - then he just walked off like it was nothing new.

 This is a picture of P-man or Panama.  He's a dark bay not black and a perfect quarter horse, just like his daddy, Jim.  P-man was real easy to break and super easy to ride.  Unfortunately, we could no longer afford to keep all the horses, so we brought Jim with us to Tennessee and gave Dusty and P-man to a good friend who had her own farm with horses.  They have a good home.  I wouldn't even think about getting in the saddle of an unbroken horse these days.  I just don't bounce like I used to and things break a lot easier now than back in those days. 

Nuttin New

A typical morning for me.  I start my coffee, get the cats fed, put up the flag, check email and skype, then, with my coffee on the end table, I sit down on the couch to read.  Our oldest cat, Patches, always wrangles her way onto my lap.  She's a Florida cat and hates to be cold, which she always seems to be.  Being on my lap must warm the cockles of her heart, if not the rest of her.  We used to laugh cause she will sit under the lamp just to absorb the heat from the 60w bulb.

Doesn't this picture put a chill in your bones.  Actually it was at 6PM and temp was around 20 degrees, a veritable heat wave.  I was taking my flag down and noticed this and just had to share it, especially with all our Florida friends.  It's really neat cause we only have this weather about 3 months out of the year while the Floridians have heat and humidity almost year round, cept for maybe February. 

 

Cathy has decided my next Honey Do project.  We're (me) are going to install recessed or can lights in the kitchen.  I put up lights around under the cabinets cause this is the darkest spot in the house.  There's only one overhead light but it just isn't bright enough.  So about four 75 watt bulbs ought to do it.  I'll probably relocate the current overhead light to another location in the process and run new wires for the kitchen.  Anyway - it's off to Cookeville and Lowes for the needed supplies.

This is a really good whiskey.  I usually drink Jim Beam or, preferably Makers Mark, when I can afford it.  I sampled this at the liquor store and found it to be a really smooth drink.  It's a Canadian blended select whiskey and more reasonably priced than even Beam.  Got that Barb.  Now you know what the label looks like.  Give it a try.  

Ain't Goin' Nowhere This Mornin'

Got up this morning and first thing I did was to check on the Willow trees in the front yard.

It's almost back to it full upright position but the temp is still 33 degrees so it probably hasn't thawed out completely yet.  There's hope after all.  Cathy wants to get into town this morning to pick up some groceries that we need but unless the sun breaks out and cuts this fog - we ain't goin' anywhere.

This is the view of the roadway off the front porch.  Visibility is about100 feet, while off the back porch - -

Visibility is about 30 feet.  Haven't seen ground fog this heavy since we moved to the mountain over seven years ago.  Hoping it will clear up as the sun comes out, if it comes out at all.
    I called my work partner (Ken) yesterday afternoon to see about procedures for installing can lights in the ceiling.  When he called me back, he informed me that the entire Jamestown area all the way down to Crossville was without electricity - big trees and limbs were down across power lines all over the area.  Apparently they caught the brunt of ice storm that was predicted for the Nashville area.  According to Ken the damage is so wide spread that it'll take until Monday to restore power and clear the roadways.  We caught the very edge of that storm and, because our power source is from Kentucky via Byrdstown, we didn't suffer any power major loss.  However, Kentucky did get hit pretty hard with snow, ice and wind.  It's really eerie standing on the front porch and looking out at this for -  it's deathly quiet as the fog is so thick it absorbs the normal sounds that I would normally hear.  Think I'll just stay inside for awhile and give mother nature to do what it has to do, like hang the sun up in the sky, clear off all the fog and start things warming up again.  Yup - think that's what I'll do.

Sub-zero weather

Checked the weather before I hit the sack last night and they were calling for dangerous freezing and rain mixed with sleet all night.  I figured I'd wake up around 3am to a total power outage due to lines down throughout the mountain.  Instead - we made it in spite of the freezing.  The first thing I noticed was our front yard.

This was Cathy's Weeping Willow that we planted last spring.  We planted two of them to help block the late afternoon sun from the front porch and they were both on the ground.  Not sure if they'll survive this freeze.

Looked out to the southeast and saw that the rest of the mountain had a coating of ice but couldn't really tell how much.  So - I went to the back porch to check the trees that are closer to the house.

This is what I saw.  Appears to be about 3/16 of an inch or maybe a little less of ice covering the branches.  Next I thought of the high-line wires that run across the road in front of the house.

Yup - about the same amount of ice but when you multiply that amount of ice by the distance between each pole - it's adds up to quite a bit of weight.  You could almost hear the telephone poles groaning.  Now - what do the roads look like.

This is the road going up and over the mountain.  I'd say it's gonna be pretty slick and barely passable.

This is the road headed down the mountain, which is about the same.  I guess we'll just have to wait and see what gives.  The temp is very slowly climbing.  It's 32 degrees right now with a slight bit of rain mixed with sleet.  Hopefully the temp will continue to rise and it'll turn to rain and clear some of the high-line wires and road. 

Hodge Podge of Stuff

I've long been thinking of trying to set up some kind of blind that I can use that would help camouflage me so that I could take better close ups on the critters that show up around the house and in particular the back yard. Today I got lucky.  I was in the computer room (where I am now) and happened to look out the back window and noticed this guy perched in a tree.

This is the same Flicker Wood Pecker that I photographed a couple of days ago on the telephone pole in our back yard.  I realized that if I removed the screen from the window, all I would have to do is carefully raise the window to be able to see a large portion of our back yard and get some of the photos that I've been wanting.  This is the first.

I realize that there are days, sometimes weeks that go by without me making a blog entry.  So - to try to maintain the blog on a more regular basis, and to keep me busy and out of trouble,   I'm going to post some of the photos that we took while we were stationed overseas during our Naval career.  It probably won't be everyday but at least more frequently than the past, unless I'm working.

This first entry will be one of our tours in Japan, Misawa, Japan to be exact 1981-1984.  Ya have to remember - this was 33-34 years ago so we looked a little different.  Heh Heh.  Anyway - this was one of our camping trips to Lake Towada in northern Japan.

 I looked a little rough, probably need a shave.  Lake Towada was a dormant volcano crater, about a 3 hour drive from Misawa.  My duty station, Misawa was located about 400 miles north of Tokyo.  It got kinda cold during the winter there and we had an average of 120 inches of snow accumulation during the 5 month winter.  We usually stayed about a week and went touring the country side.

We came across this Tori, which marks the entrance to a Japanese Shrine or temple.

After passing under the Tori we followed the walkway until we came upon the actual temple, seen here at the end of the trail.  You can see a couple standing in front of the Shrine.  Our next stop was in town.

This is the only place in Japan where the Hachinoe horse in made.  You can see the red one just outside the door in front of the car.  You can get them unpainted or decorated.  Each horse is hand painted by an individual local artist.  These represent the horses the early Japanese warriors rode into battle.  If you watched "The Last Samurai" you saw the warriors and their horses.

 Here you can see two Japanese women painting the horses.  I was given one when I left Japan with all my co-workers signatures on it.

We still have most of the stuff we collected overseas but did lose a lot of it when Hurricane Andrew hit Homestead, Florida, where I was the Operations Chief for the Naval Security Group Activity.
Anywho - we attended one of the many parades held locally every year.

This was just one of the floats in the parade.  Don't know what the celebration was but it was probably something historic.  This float has a very large drum on it.  There are four guys on each end of this thing and they continually hammer a rhythm that you wouldn't want to listen to for long.  It's extremely loud and you can hear it from a long way off.

It may be hard to tell but you can probably judge by the warrior riding the horse that this horse is huge.  He stands well over 17 hands and is about the size of a Percheron.  Usually the horse would be outfitted with heavy shielding on his hips, chest and neck.  When you add the weight of the warrior and all his protection and weapons, it would take a pretty large animal to carry it.  This would be comparable to the Armored Knights of England.

 This is a typical food stand that you find along the parade route.  The Japanese version of our SoftServe ice cream in the back, ears of corn that they bake on the grill smothered in saki and soyu sauce, and the ever present squid on a stick.  The squid was also grilled while you waited and smothered in the sauce, kinda like a bar b que.  You can't really tell but this lady was actually smiling at me when I took the picture.  By the way - I was the only one in our family that ate the squid on a stick.  It kept me occupied and was like chewing on an inner tube from a bicycle tire but tasted a lot better.
  

 Next we went rural again, just driving around the area to take in a more local, non tourist agenda.  Came across this rice field that had been harvested and stacked.  They shock the rice stalks like this to let them dry before they beat the stalks to get the rice at harvest.  It's really amazing.  The Japanese are sooo neat with just about everything they do.  All the fields looked like this.  By the way, all the local Japanese we encountered were extremely polite and helpful.  Even if they couldn't speak English, and we didn't speak that much Japanese, we pointed and signed together enough to get a general understanding.

This last picture I just threw in cause it was from one of the trips that Cathy and her friends took to Osan, South Korea.  Cathy and I have been to Korea numerous times, shopping, believe it or not.
I bought a 3 piece suit, tailor made for me for $40.  I had it made by SAM's, the tailor shop shown on the left of this picture.  Things like tennis shoe (nike, reebok etc) that were going for $60-70 in the states were only $9 here cause this is where most of them were made.  The vendors loved to haggle over prices and actually were disappointed if you paid the first price they quoted you.  Things like gold, silver, pewter, brass ware, copper, handmade bedspreads and quilts etc etc.   The list just goes on and on.  We usually took a hop on a military cargo plane - C-141 to get back and forth to Japan. I have been to Seoul, Pusan and Chinhae also.  Pusan and Chinhae are in the very southern end of the Korean peninsula and are about 150 miles north west of Nagasaki, Japan.

   Well, that's enough for today.  My fingers are tired and my neck is getting stiff from sitting this long.  Actually didn't take that long cause I already knew what all this was and where.  I guess I'm just old and getting crotchety.  He - what the heck.  It's bed time anyway.  Ta Ta...

 

Cathy's Kitchen

While I was on my walkabout, Cathy was making me a surprise.  She baked two loaves of bread.  There aren't many things that I like more than hot bread and butter.  The  whole house still smells like bread.

My Mom used to make bread and rolls every Wednesday.  Every Wednesday our high school track team used to do our mile run and relay which took us past our house.  Me and a couple of my buddies used to run around to the back porch and Mom would treat us to hot bread and butter.  Wow - do I remember those days and Cathy's surprise brought back those memories.  Mom also made tea rings and sweet rolls which were just awesome.  Cathy learned a lot of Mom's recipes, along with some her Grandma (also Catherine) used to make.  Ain't much I enjoy more than eating Cathy's cooking.  I can only remember one meal that she made that didn't turn out so well.  It was back in the days when hamburger helper first came out.  I was in the Navy and we were on a tight budget - so she tried using some.  Neither of us cared for it and we haven't had it in the house since.   Cathy's lasagne and spaghetti sauce are to die for.  My mouth is starting to water.  AAAAHHHHH - now to settle back and relax with a little of my favorite Jim Beam on the rocks.

And just so you know I'm thinking about ya -here's to ya - Barb.  : )

Our Winter Friends

On my walkabout - I attempted some pics of the birds that hang around through the winter months.  I put suet blocks to help them along and also provides me the capability to capture some photos of them while they feed.

 This is a Male Cardinal feeding with a Junco waiting his turn.

Originally I had identified this as a Female Cardinal but am having second thoughts.  Usually the female is more brown than red but doesn't have black eye-stripe like the male.  Oh, well, I'll stick with my original thought.

This little guy is a Junco and they're quite common around here just like the sparrows.

And this dude is a Northern Flicker - didn't get a good look at the breast area but the markings are almost exact.  It's in the woodpecker family.  This one is hanging on the telephone pole, just below a Blue Bird nesting box.  I believe they.re trying to widen the opening on the Blue Bird house cause it'e all out of shape, as you can see below. 

Ah Well - I'm about pictured out for today.  Think I'll just sit back and enjoy the quiet beauty of the mountains and critters in winter.  Enjoy your day. 

Check out the Snow

Hard to take close up photos without my tripod but I attempted a handheld/multi-photo shot on manual focus the edited them in Adobe photoshop elements to get these closeups.

If you click on each photo you can almost see the individual ice crystals.
 

 Neat Huh.

Later on I want to get out and get some photos of the birds that are hanging around.  Using this white background the Bluejays and Cardinals should really stand out - if I can find them that is!!

We're still here

Ain't it a beautiful sight.

That's about 5-6 inches so far.  It's still snowing but very lightly.  With the sun coming out this will probably be gone by afternoon, if it warms up enough.  Temp is about 9 degrees but warming.

There's only one person on this mountain that would leave these truck tracks going down and coming back up the mountain and that's Joe.  He usually gets up at zero dark thirty and takes a run around the mountain to check conditions, get a cup of coffee at Herb's store (opens at 0600) then back home.  I know I wouldn't try it, even with 4 wheel drive.  Ah Well - just another day here on the mountain.

Life goes on even in the snow

Cathy decided to make an evening meal that we haven't had in awhile.  Its stir-fried pork.  Kinda simple but filling and oh so good.  Ya start by stir-frying small strips of pork in teriyaki sauce in a large skillet.  As the pork starts to brown, you add in sliced carrots, celery, Chinese cabbage, diced onions, a bit more teriyaki sauce, and stir til veggies are somewhat al dente.

Then you serve it up on a bed or rice or rice on the side.  Top if off with soy sauce and a hefty bourbon highball or your favorite beer (Kirin or Sapporo) and there you have it.

Except for the prep - it's a pretty quick meal and it sticks to your ribs for awhile.  Now - I think I may have to visit that bourbon again, just for a short taste.

Aaaaaahhhhhhh! Cold Morning - Warm Breakfast!

Cathy was up and at'em earlier than usual this morning.  Whilst I was doing family research on the computer, she was building a great breakfast.

She scrambled 3 eggs, added yellow bell pepper, onions and seasoning.  Then lined a cupcake pan with bacon strips, poured in the omelet mixture, cut up and fried some taters in olive oil and KAZAAM - breakfast.  I know - I know.  It's a little high on cholesterol but who gives a ...t, it was really good.  TaTa

And Once Again

Yesterday turned out to be a beautiful, bone chilling, cold day.  When I got up the temp was 9 degrees with -1 wind chill.

This morning it's cold (20 degrees) and snowing a very fine snow flake but it's covering the ground, nonetheless.  The weather guesser has predicted a heavy snowfall of up to 3 inches or more for our area.  Three inches of this stuff will be heavy indeed.

As you can see visibility is limited but, in an emergency, we could still travel down the mountain by the gravel back roads til we get to the salted and cleared main highways. 

As I went to the kitchen to get a fresh cup of java, I noticed the snow flakes had gotten bigger and visibility was getting better however, the temp is still cccccoooolldd.  So for today -

I think we'll just cuddle up with a good book and a cup of coffee and enjoy the heat from the fireplace in our living room.  Kinda like we did yesterday. Heh Heh Heh!!  Wherever you are - have a wonderful God given day - you too Barb...