Hummingbirds

The hummingbirds are finally back again. They showed up as usual in early spring but then they just dissappeared. Not sure but maybe they were nesting away from here. This didn't happen last year - they came and stayed. Oh, well. We had to get two feeders - one for the back porch and another for the front porch. When too many get around they tend to drive each other away from the feeders. I took these pictures standing about 3 feet away from the feeder. Once they get used to you being around, they just carry on as usual unless you make a sudden move. They're neet to watch. They make all kinds of noise and they do have a song - of sorts. We have about 4 different Hummer families and they're all of the Ruby Throated variety.

This 'n That

Well, decided last week to go looking at trucks just to see what was out there and wound up with a new chevy truck. We paid less for this one than we did our last truck and got more truck to boot. The garden is slowly coming around. This is the first year that there has been a garden in the yard and the clay is almost like concrete. We put some top soil down to mix in but apparently not enough. Will remedy that next year. We have potatoes, tomatoes, carrots, beets, radishes, pole beans, peppers, squash, egg plants, okra and onions. Recognize the thing that looks like an old outhouse. That's a toilet paper holder. The door opens and you can store up to 4 rolls of paper in it.

Garden is Done

We finaly got the vegetable garden and the herb garden planted. We still have to plant the onions and we have packets of seed to plant radishes, beets and carrots. Chuck worked all day Saturday on raised gardens out in front of the porch and the side of the house. We got railroad ties to use to enclose the garden then put down weed cloth then put in the top soil. Chuck went and got a load of top soil and got it all in and the left over soil went in the veggie garden. Tonight we planted Caladenian bulbs. We had planted some our first summer but they didn't come up last Spring. Maybe the clay ground was to hard or the cold weather affected them coming back up. They should be pretty when they come up. Hopefully, tomorrow I will get some flowers for the side garden. Still have some more planting beds to clean out and replant. I will post some pictures later on.

We are still working on the house inside. Our next big project is cabinets for the laundry room and tile for both bathrooms. This summer Chuck will put a metal roof on the out building since it is leaking badly. Alot of the shingles are off the roof we do get some strong winds here on the mountain. Always many projects to do when you own a house. Well thats it for this time.

Spring has Sprung

I haven't posted in awhile been busy with company March and April. In March or son visited from Fl. We hadn't seen him since we moved from FL in Jan. 2007. He is pretty busy managing a busy Hooters in Port Richey, FL but had 2 weeks of vacation to use or lose so visited us for a week. He flew into Nashville, Tn on March 31st. We had to travel 2 hours to pick him up. Stephen liked where we lived here in the mountains, but wouldn't want to live here himself, to remote. He did say it would make an excellent vacation home. He did get some rest while here and we all went out to dinner on my birthday to my favorite place, Red Lobster! The visit ended to quickly. He said that he would be back again and bring his finacee next time.

Chucks 2 sisters from IL were here for Easter. They arrived on Thurs nite and left to go home on the 13th. Diane of course had to work while here she brought her lap top and her fax machine with her. I managed to get my work done as well. She has her own business and if she doesn't work, she don't get paid! Thats her only source of income. Diane's son was visiting from CA he was buying a car in the St. Louis, MO area and came along with them. We had a big dinner on Easter Sunday and not alot of leftovers either. We all do like to eat.

The weather here has been rainy on and off we did have one sunny rainless day while they were all here. Its still kinda cool and the heat still comes on at night. Its cool so far today and probably more of the same tomorrow then it warms up into the low 70's. Its been so rainy we haven't had a chance to put in our garden yet. Got a few plants already. I will have my herb garden as well. We plan to plant potatoes, onions, cabbage, radishes, tomatoes, peppers, okra, egg plant, lettece and beets. A little of every thing. Alot of people around here do gardens and they also put up stuff in the freezer or canning.

Well its time to make that trip to town. Diane gave us a lap top computer so I need to take it in and see why it won't power up.

Spring Time

Well now! Spring appears to have sprung here on the mountain. Weather is warmer but ya never really know for sure. Just two days ago we had ice on everything above ground. Some of the trees were down on the road and we had to cut our way down off the mountain to get to Jamestown. Spring also revives Cathy's Honey Do list. I finally finished her back splash for the kitchen. We used a beadboard panel and moldings and glued them to the wall. Lots of cutting around switch plates and the window but its done. Joe came down and gave me an arrowhead he'd found in his garden plot. He recently plowed a plot for himself and also plowed a 15' x 50' plot in my back yard for Cathy's garden. Anyway- he invited me to search his garden for arrowheads. I spent about 2 hours scouring his plot but didn't find much. After I had been searching for a bit, Joe drove down and handed me a baggie full of arrowheads he'd had in the basement for awhile. He wanted to get rid of them and figured I'd want them. He figured right. I try hard to classify these things but man there's just soooooo many different styles and types that it's really difficult. When I first started I thought that I'd be dealing with mostly Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama and Kentucky types. But the early indians did a lot of traveling and swapping so it's not really unusual to find arrowheads from Maine or Illinois and maybe even Texas. It's an extremely interesting hobby that provides you with an education in Archaic and Paleo history.

'nother winter day

Well - got up this AM to another inch and a half of snow on the ground. Ain't too cold tho only about 32 out. Saw about 5 or 6 deer browsing in the pasture the other day but by the time I got my camera they were skeddadling across the fence and into the woods. The neighbor and I have seen this group traveling around the mountain in recent weeks. Joe was telling me about an Elk that he saw along the road further down the mountain about 2 weeks ago. Didn't know what it was at first so he slowed down and stopped to watch it. The Elk didn't seem to mind the audience either. When Joe looked back there were other cars parked behind him watching also. This is the first sighting of an Elk in this part of the country that I Know of. We also have a big gaggle of turkeys that range over this part of the mountain. The last count I had was about 40-45 of them when they went trooping along my back fence line. Most were Young'ns with older hens leading and trailing the pack. Interesting stuff that I get to see off my back porch. Think maybe I should be hibernating in this weather but got work to do. Finished putting up rain gutter to keep Jim's stall from flooding and finally found a saw mill that had saw dust to sell. Baldwin's over south of Jamestown had a little accumulated that they sold me. With the economic low we're having, requests for lumber are well below last year. Ah - But not to fear - Obama's gonna fix everything with our tax dollars. Just keep paying IRS because if'n ya don't, ya just might wind up as an appointee on Obama's cabinet - Heh! Heh! Heh!

Winter's Reality

Been snowing for the past couple of days. Hasn't been above freezing yet but the wind has laid a bit and it's not so cold. Roads are slick and it's hard to drive to the top of the mountain so we just stay at home til it starts to melt, probably tomorrow or thursday. Cathy has an appointment in Cookeville thursday PM so hopefully the roads will be in better shape. Mailman parked in our driveway this morning and walked up the road to deliver the mail. That's dedication for ya. Getting sick of all the inaugural crap on tv. Haven't seen any decent news for the past 3 days. Now that Obama has been sworn in and after DC has it's drunk'n party tonight - maybe things will get back to normal. When I was stationed in DC, our command provided personnel for security at the inaugural balls for Bush 41 and Reagan. What a zoo. Lots of celebrities, dancin', drinkin' and partyin'. When I was assigned to the DC municipal auditorium ball, I had to pull a partially nude woman off one of the tables where she was dancin' for everyones pleasure. Only one of many such incidents. As a sailor, i've witnessed some wild parties but never anything like these. But I guess that's what you get when you spend hundreds of millions for a party. Unfortunately a larger part of that funding comes from tax payer dollars!!! Oh well, it's only money. There's more where that came from. No sarcasm here, eh! Must be the weather. Hopefully 2009 will be better than 2008 and our economy will turn around again. There's just too many people out here in the hurts with no way out.