The Mountain Thymes

 Mark arrive Wednesday afternoon.  We sat down to a light beef stew later and just relaxed and talked.  Talking comes easily to John.  Each morning during his stay was 28 degrees but sunny days warmed up to around 70.  Tuesday morning the two tree guys began removing the flagged trees I wanted gone.  It was quite a show Tuesday, Wednesday, and some of Thursday.  They  didn't use a chipper so the price was very reasonable.  I had at least ten trees removed from various place .  Some I wanted down and others were showing signs of blight and needed to be removed.   Once the trees were down they cut and stacked them to be place on the trailer for removal.  Watching them put the trees down between other trees was fascinating.  Never breaking other branches or trees.  This forest needed badly to be thinned.  It looks so open and airy now.  The corner fences were removed and everything was neatly replaced afte...

 Just a quick update............. Cherokee County was under a tornado watch until 1 am.  I fell asleep by ten and was awakened by rattling windows, wild winds, and close flashes of lightning. I figured that was a good time for a bathroom break then crawled back under my covers and slept until six.  My weather station reported over an inch of rain and the creek is flowing rapidly.  By the way the back woods shows a stream of cleared leaves, I can see where the rain gushed during the storm.  I have a few limbs down but nothing to really heavy to clean up. It's sixty now at ten o'clock with a light rain.  The storm is slowly clearing away with passing showers and sun.  Not a good day for my walk because we're still under wind advisory in Cherokee County with 15-20 mph gusts.  I don't want to meet a broken limb coming down with a gust.  I was very hungry this morning and felt like pancakes.  Made a batch of buckwheat pancakes and ate them al...

  My little Carolina wrens have built their first seasonal nest.  Construction took place just a few days ago, just in time before this approaching storm system is predicted to bring all modes of severe weather.  Last year my canvas porch swing was up when the couple began building the nest and chose the swing.  During the storm the nest  with eggs was blown out of the swing and thrown to the woods.  That broke my heart so this year when I began using used my swing I brought it in each evening to avoid that from happening again.  I hope this nest is more secure as this storm comes through tonight.  This afternoon I moved the flower pots and vegetable containers back into the shed, placed the garden chairs in the she-shed by the big garden, and hopefully secured everything that could become airborne. All day the winds have been 15-18 mph with stronger winds expected through the night.  No rain yet today.  The heavy line is due around 9 to...

 I'm not sure what the trigger was this morning, but suddenly I remembered that eighteen years ago this weekend Cliff and I spent that weekend with a realtor driving up and down mountain roads looking at homes.  I stepped onto my porch to toss the last of my morning ginger/turmeric tea over the rail, and to feel how cold it was, when that weekend became a memory.  Those two days were dreary, cold, and windy.  This morning on the porch was dreary, bitter cold, and windy.  The instant I stepped out and felt the wind hit my face, that weekend flashed back.  All Saturday and Sunday Steve must have shown us at thirty houses.  We turned down some without even getting out of his truck to tour because of location.  Others were too remote.  I wanted a walkout basement for a sewing/craft room and a place for Cliff to set up his HAM equipment.  He immediately turned down three story homes and large cabins.  My heart was disappointed but Cliff ...

 Last night's night weather was loud and wild.  I woke at 2:45 to rain beating against the windows and against the house. By the time I woke it only lasted another 15 minutes as is quickly moved east.   Higher elevations had winds in the 50's.  I didn't see lightning or hear thunder close by.  By the time I fell back to sleep it was time for me to get up.  The weather station showed 0.83 inches of rain but I know there was more than that.  The gusts probably blew the rain right over the little rain collector.  I set my iPhone for 5:50 to get the truck to the Kia service department for 7:45.  Everything thing is being checked out and the Toyota is still there.  I should get a call sometime tomorrow on the diagnosis.  The Kia is back in the garage nicely detailed. So clean and shiny inside and out.  My neighbor, Janice, picked me up from Kia at 8 this morning, probably still in her pj's.  I returned the Mitsubishi  arou...

 Life just threw in some more detours for me to navigate around.  Last Monday I brought the Kia to Ground to Graphics for the right front bumper repair appointment.  No problem because I have the truck. It has no backup camera because it's a 2002 and I'm spoiled by the backup camera in the Kia.  Whenever I do take the truck, I drive without a radio to listen to and go back to basics of using the rear view and side mirrors.  Good for the brain.  Wednesday morning the trusty truck began shaking and rattling at 50-55 mph so I just slowed down to 45 but my heart didn't.  Thursday I drove it into town slowly just to pick up what I needed and drove home.  When I called Mark he advised me to get it checked out because it could be serious.  This morning at 7:45 I was at the Kia dealer to see if it could be checked  just to see what the problem was but they were so booked  that I couldn't be squeezed in.  So I have an appointment early ...