And Time Marches On

I'm getting really lazy lately.  Although I've had a few jobs and completed several projects, I've really neglected this blog.  We were even discussing whether to delete it or not.  Still, catching up every once in awhile is better than not catching up at all - I think.?. 
We had a beautiful fall season this year.  With the abundance of rain and warmer temperatures, the colors were more vivid.  This is a picture off our front porch looking west.

We also had a beautiful moon, (super moon) in mid-november.  This was taken facing east off our back porch.

This thing was gorgeous - I just wish I could have gotten a better focus.  The camera wouldn't give a good focus due to distance and lighting so I tried my best with manual focus but with 70 year old eyes - I should have let the camera do auto focus, it would probably have been better.So - as you can see with the homestead picture, it's the Christmas Holiday already.
Our daughter Kristy and her two kids, Lilly and Hunter, are currently living with us and it will make this Christmas really special.  Their Florida grandparents sent Christmas presents and some are still arriving.  It's gonna be a real clutter Christmas morning but oooooohhhhhh the fun in watching these kids.  This is the most decorating that we have done in years.

 This year I had a new dimension added to the Christmas proceedings.  I belong to a website called arrowheads.com, dedicated to preserving prehistoric artifacts, such as arrowheads, pottery, etc.  Anyway we decided to do a Secret Santa and it proved to be very successful.  I decided to make my gift and include some arrowheads from my collection.  This is what I came up with.

 And this is what I received.

A lot of work went into that beaded pouch and it's beaded on both sides.  A really nice gift and it included 4 points from his personal collection. 
Kristy came up with the idea to make gifts for her older girls that are still living in Florida and for her former mother and father-in-law.  We made the girls and the mother-in-law leather key cases that contain two miniature pics of her and Lilly and Hunter.  I forgot to get pictures of them but I did take a pic of the wallet face that we made for her father-in-law.

Jim's a lifetime hunter so we figured he'd like an outdoor scene with a buck for good measure.  It was a credit card wallet and was buck stitched along the edges.  Again - I forgot to get a pic of the finished project but you get the idea.  Hopefully - I'll be more diligent in the future and make at least bi-monthly posts.  TaTa

More Pics

Finally got this blog to where it would take photos from the iphone but had to load them onto the HP photo program first.  Anyway......

These are pictures taken when we were in Florida attending our Grandson's birthday party.  Kai was 2 years old.

Steven has a 15 foot above ground pool in his backyard and managed to squeeze this inflatable enclosed jump and water slide between the pool and fence.  It's funny because there were 7 kids at the party but there were 27 adults.  They all had a good time.

My brother Bob and I hadn't seen each other in about 6 years so we cracked a bottle of Maker's Mark Bourbon to celebrate.  Don't plan on letting that much time pass before we get together again.



Left to right, Steven, Kai, Cathy, Me and my brother Bob.  Bob and his family had just moved to Florida the previous year and he came up for a short visit.  Steven's wife, Lisa was taking the pics.

Jynna Mae and Kaylee, our oldest Grand daughters were at the bday party as well.

Before we left Brooksville, we stopped by "The Main Street Eatery" restaurant where Kaylee works.  It's right across the street from the County courthouse and gets a lot of business from the locals.

WOW - WHAT A HIATUS

I knew I'd been missing in action as far as this blog was concerned but some people may be thinking I'm dead and gone.  But those in the know, know a lot has been happening in our household these past few months.  Our Summer has been a whirl wind.  Cathy has undergone 2 back surgeries and recovered quite well - our daughter and her two chillins moved in with us until she can get her feet on the ground.  It's been quite a transition for us old folks having two kids around but it's for the best.

We enjoy outings on the lake and either stop at one of Dale Hollow Lake marinas or eat lunch on the boat. We didn't get to spend as much time on the water as we would have like to but we were out more than last year.

Cathy was in the canning mood this year and we put up bunches of stuff.  She made pickles, both dill and sweet, corn, tomatoes and tomato products such as salsa, spaghetti sauce, whole tomatoes etc., 

green beans, peaches, and pickled and plain beets.  All this and frozen vegetables and fruits as well.

Took a short trip to Florida for our Grandson's birthday - he's 2 now.  We really had a good time and the trip was a welcome break.

Lisa, our daughter-in-law made Kai's cake.  It's a Power Ranger theme

Steven, Jynna Mae, Cathy and Kaylee.  I've got more photos but they're on my Adobe Photo Shop and I can't get them to upload yet.  Seems Photo Shop isn't available for this website.  I'll keep working on it and post them later.  Enjoy...

Try'n to keep up

Been having great weather lately but it ain't gonna last.  Got up this morning and it was spitting snow then it went away and the sun came out.  Been warmer (upper 40's) but a bit windy, which definitely puts a chill in the air.  Anyway - thought I'd post some pics of Cathy's new purse that I made. 

 This is what's called a double cordovan stitch and it took over 25 years of leather lace to close the purse up.  As you can see it gives the purse a fancier finish to the edges.

It actually took me seven days to finish the lacing.  So - a week for the carving (give or take a day), another day or so for the antique dye finish and seal, then the lacing - it took about 2 weeks.  I don't hurry a project like this because the leather is sooo expensive and if you make a mistake it's very hard to hide it, especially in the carving and coloring.  So I take my time and only work on it when I get the notion.  Cathy seems to like it and that's all that matters to me.  And that be it!!

Post Cabin Fever

Well - the weather is typically fickle but at least it's somewhat warmer during the days.  We were snowed in for a couple of days when both snow and ice accumulated but the roads are clear now. Did manage to get to town and got Cathy some peach colored roses for Valentines Day.  She reciprocated with a box of chocolates, which neither of us need but oh, well.  Love that gal and I also love chocolate  ; )

 For the past couple of days I have been working on a purse to replace the battered one she has.  She picks out the design and I make the purse.  Here's how it goes  -  -

After she picks out the pictures she wants and the style of alphabet for her initials, I transfer the design on to a leather blank that will represent the back and front flap of the purse.

Just in case you didn't know, if you left click on the pictures, you can enlarge them..
If you look closely on the lower left corner of the blank you will see her initials (CME)  and on the right corner you can barely make out a horses head.  That is an image of the picture of our horse, Jim, that she has on her current purse.  On the top of the blank, which is back of the purse is another design of a horse running across a field in front of a fence.  This took a few hours to copy the designs and transfer them onto the tanned leather blank.  Next I have to carve the designs into the leather in preparation for tooling the leather to give the designs an embossed appearance.

Of course it's never as simple as it sounds.  You have to keep the leather somewhat damp in order to properly tool the leather around the design or pattern and you have to use certain tools designed specifically for that purpose.  What you see above are the lines cut or carved into the pattern of Jim.  The mouth, hair, eye and muscle will be done last.

This is the design that you couldn't see very well in the previous pictures.  This picture will require the most detailed work and a lot of free hand cutting/tooling.

Doesn't quite look the same, huh.  If you could see close enough you would be able to see the nails holding the fencing boards in place.

And lastly - the finished product after it has received an antique stain and leather sealer to help preserve the leather against weather and wear.  Now all I have to do is assemble the purse, adding a bottom, end pieces, a strap and a fastener to keep the purse closed.  Oh, I forgot to mention about the 30 yards of leather lace that will be required to lace this thing up to hold it together and that'll take about 3 days of work.  It's hard on the fingers.  I'll include a pic of the finished product when I get it completed.    Then I promised my brother, Bob, that I'd make him a personalized leather guitar strap.  He plays in a band and could use a new one.  So that'll be my next leather project.  Wow - that should be enough for now.   Later.

Food vs Weather

It's strange - every time the weather gets severe, particularly during the winter months, we seem to turn to food.  Well "turn" may not be the right word to use here but, in our house, here on the mountain, we do a lot of cooking.  My wife is a particularly good cook and I might seem a little prejudicial but I've been eating her meals for going on 48 years now.  I've seen them evolve from throw-away to freeze and eat again as leftovers.  She just seems to have the knack for putting things together or following a recipe that turns out right.  She's cultivated menus from our overseas tours and a lot right here in the good ole US of A, mostly southern I might add.  Anyway - today was another cold wintry day, with temps in the 20's, so we felt like making hot, oven baked bread.  So we did:

We made these two loaves, which is enough to hold us for about a week or so. This is the picture of them going into the oven for a spell of baking.  Since we were having lasagna for supper we decided to have some with our meal, even though it wasn't Italian with garlic.

 It had a real good texture, relatively soft crust and was sooooooooo good, especially sopping up the tomato sauce.  I can remember my Mom making bread, rolls and tea rings one Wednesday each month that lasted our family of seven about 2 days.  The guys on my track team and I used to run about an eighth of a mile to my house then around back to the porch where Mom would have buttered hot rolls waiting for us at about 1000AM.  Wow - what a memory and this bread brings it all back.  Wonder if they remember it as well as I do??
  Cathy finally got her disability approved through Social Security but not until after a lawyer and a fight.  Believe this - we fought with them for 5 years over $60 a month more on her monthly social security payment.  Admittedly  the payments went back to 2010 when she first applied for the disability but - come on now - $60 a month?????   Some might ask why we persisted in pursuing this even when we knew the payment was so small and I'll tell ya that it's the principal of the thing.  Social Security apparently automatically disapproves all disability applications, unless they're based on life termination illnesses.  They even turned us down on two subsequent appeals but finally saw the light when we got a lawyer.  Actually he helped us better organize and present our case to them and it wound up with Cathy appearing with her council before an Administrative Judge who heard the case and requested further outside opinions.  Anyway - it went in Cathy's favor and we're happy.  Our lawyer didn't get much by way of income from this case but in his words - if someone doesn't represent the lower claims, who will.  He said that there are a large number of claims exactly like ours in this county but most people just give up fighting against the "system."  I fully understand the attitude but refuse to give in to it.  Anyway - we're both relatively healthy with the normal aches and pains (Cathy has a few more than I do because of her replacement surgeries) and we're trying our best.  What the hell, life only comes around once - that I know of - and you'd better enjoy it while you can.  Age has a way of taking enjoyment away from you oooooooh so slowly.  Okay - time to lighten up

 

Found this guy sitting outside my back window this morning.  He's a little puffed up to keep warm but at least the snow is melting today.  It's supposed to warm somewhat for the next couple of days then head back down the hill into the teen and twentys.  Hey - we wanted four seasons - well we almost got it.  It goes from winter straight into summer then fall and back to winter.  Kinda wondering what the next few years of change will bring - maybe fall will disappear and we'll be back to two seasons, summer and winter - just like Florida!!!!  

Back to the unpredictable weather

We've been having typical wintery cold nights but above seasonal daytime temps.  Today it was around 47.  It only took a couple days of warmer weather and some rain to mostly clear the 13" snowfall we had on the ground.  Almost all the roofs are clear of snow.  The ground is totally saturated and super soft.  The runoff from the melting snow will continue for another couple of weeks.  Wolf River is running very high right now and Dry Creek is everything but dry.  Now would be a terrific time to be out hunting arrowheads but it's just sooooo muddy.  I guess I'm a fair weather hunter.  Anyway - to break up the cabin fever and monotony of doing nothing - Cathy decides it's time we try to make some donuts again.  We have a recipe book from my hometown.  We got it when we went back to Kinmundy, Illinois for my Mom's funeral.  The book title is "Cooking With Love & Memories" and it consists of recipes from family members and friends of the Kinmundy Christian Church, copyrighted 2002.  Anyway, a very dear friend of my Mom, Eleanor Tate had a donut recipe that was "to kill for" and it was listed in the book.  So we tried it.

I gotta tell ya - ya can't eat just one.  I remember Eleanor's donuts were always the best I had ever had, including Dunkin Donuts and Crispy Creme.   Cathy decided to make only half the recipe because we're supposed to be watching our weight (heh heh).  That half recipe made 3 dozen donuts which should last me about 2 days - lets see half dozen before breakfast with coffee, munchies throughout the day and about half dozen before bed with coffee - yup that'll just about do it. 

There probably should be a law against these things but, as Andy Griffith used to say "boy are they goooooooood!!!"  Thanks Eleanor for including your recipe in the book.  Anybody who knows Eleanor, knows about her donuts.  And the really amazing thing is it took only about 1 hour to make them.  We already made two loaves of bread so that should be all the baking for awhile.  Wonder what's next.....

And It's A New Day!!!!

It was 19 degrees when I got up this morning but the sun was coming up over the horizon and it was a beautiful, crisp winter morning.

 The sky was clear and really blue.  As the sun got higher you could see the ice that had settled on the trees on the top of our mountain.
 

When I first opened our front door i found the neighbors pony had taken up (temporary - I hope) residence.  He was standing at the end of the porch looking out.  Poor little guy was covered with ice and snow but didn't seem any the worse for wear.  A bit later Brian Cook, a neighbor from down the road, showed up with his tractor and plowed out the driveway all the way down passed the front of our vehicles.  I thanked him profusely and he told me that the county had plowed the roads with a grader but had plowed all the driveways shut so he was clearing them out.  This is a super community and we look out for each other.  If Brian hadn't plowed me out, I'd be waiting til late Monday or Tuesday before I could get out of my driveway.  I guess we really dodged another bullet with the ice accumulation.  We only lost one pine tree that couldn't stand the strain and broke over.  So far the roads are drying out and hopefully it will continue as the temps tomorrow are supposed to be in the 50's.  What crazy weather we're having these days!!??!!

Well now - ain't this the pits!!

Must be another one of those "Storms of the century" like everyone was talking about a couple of years ago. You can see the main blog photo and compare it with this one:

The main pic was taken on the 20th, just after our first snowfall of this winter.  Then yesterday it started snowing in the morning and is continuing even now.  There's about 13" on the ground now.

I took this photo yesterday evening and it has been snowing all night.

The pines in the top photo show the snowfall as of yesterday morning and the bottom pic was taken this morning.  I'm a little worried about the shed roof.  Even though I reinforced the original hand made trusses - i'm not sure they'll handle this  much weight.  Guess we'll see.  Can't even move the truck because it just pushes the snow into a pile in front and bogs down.  We'll be here for a couple of days till this stuff starts to melt - should be starting on Monday when the temps go up. 

It's always something!!!

Woke up the other morning and this critter was looking at me from my front yard.  The morning before that it was a herd of cows.  Oh, well!  At least I don't have to shoot anything - yet.  This little pony belongs to my neighbors grandson.  They can't seem to keep him fenced in.  He won't do any damage but I do worry about him being on the road and getting hit.  We had had a real heavy frost and he was sauntering around looking for more of that green stuff.

Woke up this morning to this.  Don't know where that white stuff came from.  It's been in the high 50's and low 60's for the past week.  Now all of a sudden Old Man Winter pokes his head out of the hole and it's below zero and high in the mid 30's.  Like I said, it's always something.  We were supposed to go to Cookeville, which is an hour drive, so I could get some dental work done.  I walked out to the end of the driveway and there were no tracks on the main road and that was around 8AM.  That means that the roads are unsafe and everyone is staying in.  We have a treacherous switchback below the house and once you start down that hill you can't stop on a road like this but you can slide off the side of the mountain.  Nyet.  Not today.  We'll hunker down and wait for the snow to melt but it looks like it'll be a couple of days.  They're predicting .1 inch of ice tonight and that just might take down our power lines.  Regardless - we'll just wait it out.

WOW - AIN'T HEERED FROM YA IN A COON'S AGE

That's probably what this blog has been saying about me.  Well - I'm gett'n my crap together and intend to make an entry.  It'll probably be rather lengthy to start with just to get me caught up from August 2015.  Don't worry - I'll try to keep it interesting.  Back at ya in a bit-----

It's only fitting to start with the most beautiful and meaningful photo I've taken recently.  This was taken off our back porch looking East into Kentucky just after an August shower.  So - to kinda catch things up since Kristy's visit early July, we had a visit from our other and oldest child, Lisa and our grandson Channing, from West Virginia.

  That saddle isn't usually there, I just got it out for Channing to play on as he's gonna be a cowboy someday.  We spent a lot of time out on the boat and, in general, just lounged around.

Our summer quieted down after Lisa and Channing left and we turned to all the things we usually do during our summers - canning, out on the lake, lounging around, out on the lake, entertaining our friends, out on the lake.  You get the picture.  Anyway - Cathy had had her right shoulder replaced in April 2015 and has recovered quite well.  Now her left hip is bothering her.  Went to her orthopedic surgeon for a look see and he said he was surprised it took her this long to start feeling the pain.  He reminded her that in 2012 he had told her that both her hips were in bad shape because of arthritis and osteoporosis and he replaced the worst one, the right hip.  So now we're trying to see how long it will be before this one has to be replaced.  Cathy has been dealing with the discomfort of this degenerative disease since the 1990's but it really started becoming painful and disabling in 2004.  She had to finally quit working in 2010 because even use of her hands and lower back were causing pain.  She had applied for a disability in Sep 2010 and was immediately turned down.  We appealed the denial but got shot down again - so we got a lawyer.  He has been working with this case for several years and Cathy finally got a hearing with the Administrative Judge that decides the cases for Social Security.  When she and her lawyer left the hearing, they were both disappointed that the judge was going to get an outside opinion before he made his final decision.  Well, low and behold, I checked the mail this morning (Sunday - cause I didn't check on Saturday) and we have a letter from the Judge finding in Cathy's favor.  Talk about a surprise.  Cathy and I had both given up on ever hearing anything further on her case.  You see - miracles do happen - even when judges are involved.

In October Cathy and I headed to Florida to attend the 1st birthday party for Kai, our other grandson.  This is Stephen and Lisa's son.

 That's Lisa with Kai in their Kitchen.  He's getting a bite to eat and I think she's feeding him some of Grandma's canned green beans.  

He's a chip off the old block.  Cathy had always teased Stephen about giving her some little slanty-eyed grand children and now she has one.  He's a cutie and everyone just loves him, including his Grandma and Grandpa Elston.

That' Stephen in the backward hat helping Kai open his birthday presents.  You'd think an Elston kid would not need help opening gifts but Kai is more interested in the colorful paper and boxes


So - onto the blog saga.  We went to my sister Diane's for Thanksgiving.  She lives in Illinois with her son Robert.  It's about a 7 hour drive from here.

We had a relaxing and very enjoyable Thanksgiving. 

That's Robert in the middle.  He definitely is not a little guy but he is one of the most mature, mild mannered young men that it's been my privilege to know.  Diane - ya done good!!  She and Cathy have always been close, ever since Cathy and I went home for a visit in 1967 before we got married.

Ain't they cute!!?!!
Unfortunately the holidays did not pass without a dark cloud.  Cathy and I had hardly been home from Illinois a week when we got a call from Diane telling us that our sister, PJ had died.  PJ had been having some long standing medial issues.  Anyway - Cathy and I headed back to Illinois to help with arrangements.  Needless to say it dampened our spirits considerably.  But life goes on, yes...

We decorated like we always do but with fewer presents.  This year we spent our Christmas at home alone.  We enjoyed each other and the peace and quiet here on the mountain.  The unseasonably warm weather kinda put the Christmas mood at bay.  We're used to seeing some pretty cold weather, if not snow around this time of year but not yet.  It's had been in the 60's for crying out loud.  But warm weather or no, Christmas came and went and now it's freezing out there.  Today it was 8 degrees when I got up and it only got up to 31 during the day.  Like they say - ya gotta be careful what you wish for - ya may just get it...

About four months ago our friends from North Carolina were in Tennessee.  Bob wanted me to make him a leather wallet and he ordered the kit from Tandy Leather while he was here.  I've been tooling leather since 1965 but it's something I keep as a hobby rather than try to make money at it, then it would be more like work.  I only work with the leather when I'm in the mood otherwise you can very quickly ruin an expensive piece of leather.  Since Bob had been both a Senior Chief (E-8) and a Warrant Officer while he was in the Navy, I decided to put the Senior Chief anchor and WO shield on his wallet by way of personalizing it for him.

This is what I came up with.  The leather was originally a very light tan color which is tanned especially for tooling.  After I finished tooling the design into the leather - I used an antiquing dye to darken the leather and help the design standout.  I still have to finish out the inside pockets and lace it up before it's done - but you get the idea.  I also finished another leather project that I'd been wanting to do for a long long time.  It's a miniature saddle that you buy as a kit in pieces and put it together almost like a real saddle.

I left this saddle in it's natural tan color and detailed it after my own personal saddle.  Now I've got to make a saddle tree for it to sit on and I'll put it in the living room to become another dust collector that Cathy loves soooo much.  Ain't I thoughtful    :  )

Well that's about enough for now.  I've kept you long enough and it's getting close to my bed time.  Til next time - hopefully not 6 months either.