Fall Along the River

It has truly been a while since I paid any attention to my blog. I found this in my drafts and decided to go ahead and post it even though it was started in November of last year.

Carolina Sunset

A few months ago I read a book called Can't Wait to Get to Heaven by Fannie Flagg, an absolutely delightful book that I've shared with several people at work. The main character, Mrs. Elner Shimfissle, started a tradition of having the neighbors come over each evening to watch the sunset while they visited and talked about their day. Mrs. Elner couldn't imagine anyone not wanting to see the sunrise or set each day because no two were ever alike. I think she would have enjoyed this one as much as I did.

Music

For many years I had the great honor and pleasure of volunteering at a series of women's festivals in the southeast. Through these festivals I was introduced to many musicians and a wide genre of music. I continue to follow the careers of three of these wonderful women, often traveling to their concerts when they are close by. You can buy their music from their individual web sights or click on the title of this post to link to Lady Slipper, a great company specializing in music by all women.
I've been out of touch with festivals for quite some time now. The longest running and still going strong is the Michigan Womyn's Music Festival. I'm sure there are others out there if I just do the googling.

My favorites:
Cris Williamson is probably one of the most well known. My favorite of all her songs is Sweet Woman.
Tret Fure is another great. My favortie song from Tret is Tomboy Girl. She will be performing in Charlotte at the end of this month, October 07.
But if I had to pick a favorite, it would be Deidre McCalla. Everytime I hear Mama's Little Baby Girl, I get tears in my eyes and Cradled in Green describes everything I feel about the South and the great outdoors. You can download songs from her web sight.

Proud Mom

Check out this link to a series of DC comics character cards for sale on ebay.

Panthertown

Saturday was another wonderful day spent hiking with friends in a beautiful area called Panthertown Valley near Lake Toxaway. The end goal was a geocache called Yosemite of the East:Panthertown Pilgramage which was found, but the beauty of the area was the real prize. It took the better part of the day to do the 5 mile hike but I would do it again tomorrow. The pictures above are a few of my favorites taken on the hike.

Tracks

Today I was out taking pictures at the river and I think I found a raccoon play ground by the looks of all the tracks.

The Pinnacle of my Saturday

After all the fun at the Whimmy Diddle Competition, there were caches to be found. I started driving north on the Parkway and decided to try Pinnacle Power. This short, half mile hike almost got the best of me because it was uphill all the way. When I broke through the trees and saw the views all around me, I wanted to sit and take it all in but time was short and B&B were waiting for me back at the car. A quick look around did not turn up the cache but that just gives me more reason to go back, as if I needed more. This was definitely the high or should I say Pinnacle of my day. One of the reasons I'm so hooked on geocaching is that it takes you to so many beautiful places that you might never see or even know about. Who needs drugs?
Maybe the young guys who were chasing each other through the intersection when we got back to Asheville. We were driving down Tunnel Road when out of no where came two cars, squealing tires and bumping each other as they sped through. As they disappeared down the side street, we heard several gun shots and immediately dialed 911. B gave her description of what she had seen and a police car that happened to be behind us in traffic, u-turned and took off in that direction. It was like something on a TV show, but scary to witness in real life.
That was my truly awesome Saturday, a lot to pack into one day. I just want to get back on top of that mountain with plenty of time to sit and a camera.

Whimmy Diddle

The plan last Saturday was to continue from the Lake Cherokee CITO to the World Gee Haw Whimmy Diddle Competition at the Folk Art Center on the Blue Ridge Parkway near Asheville, NC and meet up with my daughter and son-in-law. Unfortunately, they were detoured by a phone call to come to the hospital because son-in-law's father had possibly had a heart attack the night before.
I didn't say everything about my day was perfect but, modern medicine is so very awesome because the next day they inserted a stint to by-pass a 90% blockage and he is home doing well.
At my daughter's insistance, I continued on to Asheville and thoroughly enjoyed my first Whimmy Diddle competition. The MC was entertaining and kept everything moving along and strictly by the rules. This was entertainment of the home grown, mountain variety which suited me perfectly. I brought back several but haven't quite got the hang of making it gee and haw.
The Folk Art Center is full of beautiful crafts from quilts to face jugs . There are trails nearby, picnic areas, geocaches and always, the beauty of the mountains. Stop in and visit and make plans now to be at next year's event. There's music, dancing, craft demonstrations, something for all.

Day Full of Wonder

Yesterday, September 15, was one of the most awesome days I've had in quite a while. It may take me all week to tell all the stories. It started with a drive with my best friend to a local lake to participate in
Beach Sweep/River Sweep.
A couple of good friends have hosted this clean up for three years and this year tied it into a Geocaching CITO which included fellow Geocachers from the USCGA
The morning was clear and cool and working together, eleven of us gathered 600 lbs. of trash from in and around the lake. The area looks much, much better and I enjoyed meeting and working with everyone.
At one point I stopped to admire the smooth bark of a huge tree and noticed water droplets falling all around me. I looked up to see a squirrel chasing left over rain drops to the ground, and life was good.

Advertising

This is a location I drive by everyday on my way to and from work. The flags make perfect sense coming from the other direction but seem like a joke from the other. I couldn't help turning around to get a picture.

The Not-So-Broad-River

The pipe laying down in the water, about the conter of the picture, is usually covered with turtles sunning themselves. I've not seen many this summer, especially after the temperatures shot into three digits.

Somehow the wild flowers seem to make it. These are practically growing out of the rocks.

To give an idea how low the river is, the two pipes in the back ground usually stick out about two feet. I'm guessing they're about 6 feet out now.


I've lived in South Carolina all my life and cannot remember a summer so hot or so dry. We've actually started hoping for a tropical storm to brush by and bring some relief. My garden withered away. My flowers barely bloomed. And for one of the rare times in my life, I welcomed the use of an air conditioner.
The river that flows through the county is so low the geese can hardly swim. I've no idea how the fish are surviving.

Coincidence

About 11:30pm Wednesday I went on my first OB emergency call as a first responder with the fire department. At 12:05am a beautiful baby girl was born.
The coincidence? It was my son's birthday and the young mother lived in the same mobile home park where I lived with my son and daughter when we first moved to this area.

Oh What a Beautiful Morning

About a month ago I took a well deserved vacation. The only destination was a visit to my son in NY and the only time line was to be back by the next Sunday.
The last day was probably the most memorable for me. Roomate B and I checked into a motel on a hill right beside the interstate. Clean and neat as a pin, it was like walking back in time to the 1950's. The furniture, the real key for the door, the signs, everything was very period.

There was a restaurant at the bottom of the hill and a gas staion but other than that we seemed to be in the middle of no where. We sat on the porch and watched deer grazing on the hillsides across the interstate. Deep in the woods was a house going up for auction the next week. Oh, to win the lottery!
B was still asleep the next morning when I decided to go for breakfast. The morning was cool and foggy as I walked to the bottom of the hill. A split rail fence bordered the drive way, the kind with two rails slid into knotches on the posts. Swaying in the gentle breeze and glistening with moisture, were spider webs attached in almost every corner where the posts met the rails. I likened it to a proud mother hanging art work on the refrigerator. This spider mother sure had a lot of children.

The restaurant had not opened so I continued my walk, deciding to see what was over the hill behind the motel. I came to a dirt road with a sign that read "Road ends in .95 miles." Seemed like the perfect distance.

Through the fog I could see a house and a barn with a dog barking in the distance. I came to another house where a peach fell right at my feet from a tree at the edge of the yard. I picked up the gift and continued down the road. There was no sound except water dripping from the leaves. The trees were huge, the canopy so dense there was no undergrowth. At the end of the road was a huge old farmhouse and barn with tractors and equipment scattered about, fields of corn, flowers everywhere. I took in all the beauty of the farm and the forest, the silence, the smells of nature and reluctantly started back.

And by the way, the peach was the best I've ever tasted.

For my Son

Thirty-four things you may or may not know but you're fixing to:
1) Cody now has a little girl named Lyndsey
2) Jamie has another little girl named Anna Grace
3) Cindy moved into her own apartment in Ohio but has now gone back to Cecil
4) Cody has learned that keeping his distance from his paternal family is best.
5) Cody would like to get in touch with his mother.
6) Andy's in-laws lost their house to a fire. They are rebuilding and should be moved in shortly after the 4th.
7) Jeff is living in Florida now and is expecting a little girl.
8) I just received my 5 year pin for volunteering with Red Cross.
9) I've been in my job for 23 years on the 29th of April.
10) Hurricane season starts June 1st and there is talk of a major storm hitting the New England coast, maybe even NY. Wouldn't that be ironic after all your years in
Savannah
11) The local radio station is for sale now that the founders have died. I foresee the eminent demise of Swap and Shop.
12) The "big mill" is now rubble including the big smoke stack.
13) The four-lane between here and my home town is making huge progress but now that J&C are moving, the four-lane seems a moot point.
14) I'm getting re-certified as a First Responder.
15) The auditorium in the "old school" has a new, level floor, still has a stage, has a landing just inside the doors and is geared toward parties or receptions. I think it's the perfect place for a dinner theatre.
16) We have a Chinese restaurant now.
17) This is harder than I thought.
18) Cody is the manager of a Denny's.
19) Aunt Lynn just had a complete hysterectomy because of a cancer scare but the doctor is confident everthing is OK and does not forsee any chemo or radiation.
20) Jeff's children are Matthew and Michael and one on the way.
21) Joey has one more year of school and I really hope he makes it.
22) Cindy came down this weekend and wants to move back into her house with Cecil and his daughter. She is so crazy.
23) Your uncle got the job with mlb.com and will be back in NY if not already. He may come here on his way back.
24) J&C found an apartment for $450 in a remodeled house, second floor, near campus.
25) Rumor has it, we are getting a Family Dollar and an Advance Auto to go along with our Dollar General and Food Lion.
26) Did I tell you I joined the fire department?
27) They're supposed to finish the nuke plant now after all these years.
28) Blackberries are almost ripe.
29) Trudy snores.
30) We've grown to 2 elementary schools now and still crowded. I think they are K-3 and 4-6.
31) We want to come see you. It will be sometime after shut down if we can make it.
32) I bought a canoe.
33) Laura and Lisa are geocaching.
34) I love you

Slamming Doors

Since 9/11, my company, like so many others, has stepped up security precautions. To enter or exit the plant, employees have to use their ID badge to go through a revolving door. As I watch people doing this, it becomes very clear that most did not grow up in an age of wooden screen doors. The phrase, "If I hear that screen door slam one more time, I'm going to wear you out with a hickory" means nothing to them. They push through these doors with enough force to break them on a regular basis since they are designed to stop in a certain position, unlike most revolving doors that free-spin. There's no such thing as catching the door before it "slams."

How's the Weather Up There

Somehow I received all the "short" genes in my family. My brother and sisters are 5'4" , 5' 6", 6' and my kids are 5'9" and 6'. Why am I bemoaing this? I saw a billboard yesterday detailing the new SC child restraint laws. The magic number is 4'9". Children this tall and under have to be in a booster seat. I'm a mere 3 inches from being in that group!!!!!

For My Kids

ON SILVER WINGS

I have a premonition that soars on silver wings
It is a dream of your accomplishment,
Of many wondrous things.
I do not know beneath which sky
Or where you'll challenge fate.
I only know it will be high,
I only know it will be great.

Project: Water Line

Today Bette Ann and I put on our ditch digger hats and proceeded to dig a trench for a new incoming water line. The idea is to replace the rotten galvanized pipe from the meter and through out the house.
From the meter to the house is 22' and we went down about 2' until we found the old water line and followed it to the foundation of the house. An old concrete block flower bed had to be knocked down and there was one tangled mass of tree roots that I finally gave up on for today. All that's left is a bit of leveling and tamping in the trench and getting under the tree roots.
The tree is an old dog wood that was dead when I moved here and all that's left of it is five or so feet of stump. I just never got around to cutting it the rest of the way down but even if I had, the roots would still be there.
I don't have a muscle that doesn't ache and it will be worse in the morning. Aleve to the rescue--I hope.

Hurricane Katrina

As much as I want to, I cannot get away from work or school this year to go on assignment for the Red Cross. I know the Red Cross and many other organizations will be involved in this catastrophe for months, maybe even years to come so maybe somewhere down the road there will be opportunity.
My first opportunity to serve on a large disaster was last year in Florida. It was six weeks into the relief efforts and there were people lined up at every center seeking aid. I cannot begin to phathom what it will take for everyone affected in this disaster to get help.
Volunteers usually go for three weeks but can stay for six if their job or responsibilities allow. Where will all the volunteers come from to help all these "refugees" as they are being called? I'm really struggling with the fact that I can't go now.
If you found your way to this blog and would like to help by volunteering, by all means, get to your local Red Cross Chapter. They will give you the training and transportation needed to send you out.
We still have 2 months of hurricane season to go. I check the NOAA web sight daily to see what is going on in the Atlantic. I know that there is a chance South Carolina could be affected and is probably over due for a storm. If it comes here I might have to go regardless.

Highways

Bette, my roomie, has a facination with anything American Indian related, even believing she was a Native American in a former life. (If I'm being non-PC here, someone correct me.) Yesterday, we started out going to the Cherokee Indian Reservation with plans to visit the museum, Oconaluftee Village, and see Unto These Hills. My part of this trip was a stop at the model railroad museum at Smoky Mountain Trains. The internet "information highway" had provided all we needed about what to see, what to do, how to get there, where to stay, room reservations, tickets. etc.
Of course, the best laid plans can always go awry and that they did. We tend to travel on backroads and avoid Interstates as much as possible. About 1/2 way to our destination the truck started to over heat in an area where we had no cell phone reception and no town for several miles in any direction. We stopped to let it cool down, left the air conditioner off and tried to continue but finally decided to try and get back home. One gentleman stopped to offer assistance, which was very nice in this day and time. After several stops to cool down and adding water, we were able to make it home.
One of the cool-down stops we made was beside a stream where I had seen a Great Blue Heron standing in the water on the way up. I was absolutely thrilled when the Heron flew right below me along its watery highway. While a Great Blue is not an unusual sighting, it was fascinating to view it from above and see the colors of its wings and its size.
I put a new water pump on the truck a few months back and had all new hoses installed and the system flushed at a local garage. The guy at Auto Zone, where we stopped on the way home, sold me a new radiator cap and offered some other advice (the old fashined information highway) that I will try today. He seemed offended that I thought he had sold me a defective water pump but did want to save me the hassle of needlessly changing it again.
Back at home, I again turned to the computer and the information highway looking for a cure for my old riding lawn mower. The pull rope was working but something between it and the engine was not engaging. I happened upon a discussion between a man with a similar problem and several small engine "experts." After 15 or 20 minutes, the mower was started and Bette was happily cutting "highways" through the overgrown grass.
Everyday is an adventure no matter what highway you travel.