The Mountain Thymes

"Until one has loved an animal, a part of one's soul remains unawakened." ~Anatole France Maxine lounged on her porch from early morning until we coaxed her in at night with treats.  She was our mole patrol sentry and my garden companion.  naptime mole patrol helping me peel apples for pies enjoying life on her NC porch Yesterday her quality of life hit rock bottom so the vet came out to us.  Max and Dave are together again, companions forever.   All furniture was up for grabs when Max was ready to nap like a baby. You are deeply missed but you feel no more discomfort.  You are on the porch and in the garden with me forever.  Our ever faithful Maxine.  Rest in peace.

We drove to the vet's clinic way out 294, through the woods over a dirt road almost into Tennessee to get Maxine her antibiotic.  This summer when her eyes wept a rusty fluid, the vet put her on Clavamox and in a few days her eyes began to clear up and she felt better. She lost her appetite when she had the infection.   Don't know if it's her old gums or sinuses or what but the Clavamox worked.  We'll see if it clears up again. We also got her some kitty Geritol to get thiamine, B vitamins, other vitamins, and minerals back into her system.  She can have Ensure, Carnation Evaporated milk to soothe her stomach, and raw egg if she wants.  We know she's geriatric but right now we're trying to make her comfortable. I warmed a couple tbs of evaporated milk for her when we got home, and she actually drank it then laid down for a catnap. Last week, Pat and I roamed around Andrews, a little city out near Marble.  Cliff and Larry went to "a man's garage sale...

Yesterday's crisp start to the morning gave way to a chamber of commerce day with sun and a comfortable 80 degrees.  Wonderful day for flea markets that pop up along the 4-lane and the bikers out on their great adventures.  This morning we are 30+ degrees warmer as we start the day with a chance of thundershowers later.  This coming weekend is the John Campbell Folk School Art Festival and the weather looks as if it will cooperate with a high of 73 and plenty of sun.  Tourists who flock this weekend to the festival enjoying the food, music, and demonstrations of Appalachian crafts will also delight in the yellow and red paint scattered unevenly throughout the forest like new grays showing up on a head of aging hair.  I've been a bit consumed by Maxine's deteriorating health so haven't done much blogging.  I've researched and read articles on aging cats, tried recipes that contain organic liver and hearts that no cats can refuse only to have her refuse, mi...

It's a crisp sunny 45 degrees this morning on the mountain but will get up to about 80 by afternoon.  Max had her breakfast and is now curled up outside on the lounge sleeping like a baby.  Some days it just crushes us to see her so thin and frail.  It's a bummer. Moving on................ I'll be back later.  Forgot what I wanted to blog so will go have breakfast now.

Another sad sign of the times.  I went to George's Butcher Shop this morning to get his farm eggs, a couple of pounds of Brasstown beef, and more chicken for the freezer only to pull into his parking lot and see a U-Haul backed up to his door.  I wondered if this was in his future.  I didn't want to admit that all the signs were there.  George opened before we permanently settled here, probably about 5 years ago.  He's an honest person with a heart of gold who donated his pulled pork, chicken, and beef to community functions, opened his doors sometimes 2 hours early for customers who showed up in his parking lot, gave work to young people willing to learn the trade, and fed those who were hungry.  George always made time to talk and he and I used to laugh over his teenagers' antics.  His Dad, well into his 80's, came out of retirement to help him when times were busy.  Gosh, this sounds like an obit.................George didn't die, but he closed...

Maxine has acclimated nicely to our mountain lifestyle.  She would much prefer to stay out on the porch all night with her neck thrust through the porch rails watching nocturnal creatures roam around her woods. When we're ready to close up the house and retire at night, I have to cajole her in with a shake of the treat bag and sweet talk.  She's even comfortable sleeping out on the lounge in 30 degree weather.  So to allow her to safely be outside on the porch from pre-sunrise to way past sunset, we bought a sheet of lattice and for months just propped it against the porch opening keeping her from "running with her cat cousins."  Recently we built a nice frame around the lattice and fixed it so it would hook in place. When Karen and her family visited us this summer,  Karen asked if we worried about Max slipping through the porch rails and jumping down to escape.  It had never happened so it wasn't a concern.  A few weeks ago I went out on the porch ...

At the end of August Mark and his marathon partner, Vicki, shared marathon miles in Kansas City, MO.  I had never heard of sharing the miles.  Vicki ran the first and third segment and Mark ran the second and fourth.  Last year Mark joined the CrossFit gym in Kansas City, MO.  He finds the workouts extremely challenging and team camaraderie refreshing.  The way he describes his workouts to me is like training to be a Navy Seal!    In January he'll be running the Disney Marathon in Florida.  GO Mark!

Many of the local roads we travel to town or to our transfer station to dump trash or out to the cow pastures to our country doctor are winding and scenic.  One of our favorite travel routes is Brasstown Road taking us to Friday night concerts in the open barn and the road which we often take just to enjoy the cows, the rambling hills and mountains and the peaceful treed canopies.  Farm houses with colorful day lilies and hot pink knockout roses, acres of corn fields and vegetable gardens sit back against the rolling landscape.  As we round one of the bends, a horse barn comes into view. The first time my eyes gazed upon the weathered wood,  the way it set up on the hill overlooking other farms and a mountain view,  I thought to myself,  just dreaming, if that place ever goes up for sale, I'll buy it.  Farms and land in Brasstown are desirable properties and most are way out of our reach.  So recently when returning from a Friday night concert, ...

I'm predicting a mild winter.  This is not based on any observations in nature, such as the brown and black wooly caterpillar, or the squirrels hoarding excess acorns for storage.  I figure since we've upgraded the propane tank from  a 300+ gallon to a 600 gallon, filled it for about a million dollars,  had our new wood burning stove installed today, and will have another cord of wood delivered this week, we have enough fuel and resources to carry us through a blizzard that knocks out power and confines us to the mountain.  Just as washing and polishing the car brings rain,  this should guarantee us a mild winter.   before  notice the supervisor in the background soapstone fireplace with black enclosure The two young men did an excellent job.  They were neat, cleaned up after themselves, left no soot prints anywhere, and tolerated Cliff quite well.  I told them if he "supervised" too much I could throw him over the porch rails an...

"How glorious a greeting the sun gives the mountains!" ~ John Muir In the early mountain morning, when light is softly tiptoeing into the darkness, Max and I sit wrapped in a quilt with our coffee, absorbing the sounds of mountain fog gently kissing the leaves.  In the subtle light, cardinals chirp and greet us at the back porch feeder.  Hummingbirds begin their inflight activities competing for nectar and air space.  Ethereal mountain mist breathes calm and solace into the spirit and opens the heart and mind to begin the day with peace.      Namaste.

In early August I began clipping, tying, and hanging some of my garden herbs.  When TS Lee visited us for a few days dropping our temperatures to raw wet 50's, it gave me a chance to crush and package the herbs for winter use and make another  batch of tomato sauce for the freezer.  The last of the green tomatoes are picked and ripening in the kitchen.  The fall heritage tomatoes I set in August are in pretty sad shape with spotted wilting leaves so they probably won't survive.  The spinach and couple of lettuce varieties seem to be thriving right now under the row covers.  Found the sheers at a local thrift shop and used fence for the frame.  In theory, this is suppose to keep the insects from chomping the leaves.  So far the rabbits haven't gnawed through the sheers.  Because of the sun's lower position in the sky, the tall trees are preventing the needed 6-8 hours for growing.  I may still set onions.  Deer and rabbits find them...

Since early Tuesday morning we've received 4.5 inches of rain from Lee.  Yesterday we celebrated the working people's holiday, Labor Day, by enjoying an all-American menu of hot dogs, hamburgers, and potato salad  at Pat and Larry's mountain home in Marble.  On the way home, the rain from Lee became so heavy that streams of water rushed across the roads and cascaded down the mountainsides.  There was no wind with the storm, but the power flickered throughout the evening.  This morning we have wind and with such saturated ground, we could have trees uprooting during the day.  The creek down in the hollow (pronounced "holler" among the locals) has barely trickled in the dry spell but is rushing this morning.  The power flickered this morning while posting but we seem to be ok now.  Wind has died down and the air is still.  Temps never even hit 70 so we're wearing jeans and long sleeves.  Maxine loves this weather.  She stays out on ...

  Cornbread Ted and the Butter Beans entertained us in the open barn at the John Campbell Folk School Friday evening.  They proved to be the best performing group of any we'd seen all summer.  "Greasy Weezie" thumped the bass.  "Cornbread Ted" played banjo, fiddle, mandolin, and harmonica entertaining us with some old-time music from the 1920's and 30's. "Rattler" kept the rhythm with her washboard and spoons while "Pinto" strummed guitar and mandolin.  Their style is a mixture of old-country fiddle tunes and bluegrass.  As Cornbread calls it.............."Appalachian ruckus."  We were amazed to learn that off stage, three of the four are faculty members in Georgia at Young Harris College, which is down the road apiece from us. "Cornbread" is chair of the art dept. and his wife, "Greasy Weezie" holds a Phd and teaches English.  "Pinto" also holds a Phd and is chair of the dept. of religion an...