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.