Don't worry...............we didn't win the $640 million. We're not about to abandon our friends and buy new ones. Actually, we didn't even buy a ticket. It was not because we didn't want to brave the long lines. There are no long lines in Murphy, except for Wal-Mart. I found there was too much pressure in trying to choose the best numbers. Do I go with birthdays and whose birthday do I use? What if I lost because my number was only one digit off? If I won, what would I do with all that $$$$$? So it was easier not to participate and hope our children bought the winning ticket.
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The warm wet spring brought back the early morning sounds of "whip-poor-will" heard from the porch as the sky lightens in the east. This welcomed sound along with turkeys talking and coyotes yipping in the hills, haven't been heard since the first year we moved here. Phoebes answer each others calls at sunrise and sunset. It's fascinating how the weather changes even the migration of local animals. With retirement, we've been able to observe and appreciate flora and fauna. We've had numerous American goldfinch at the feeders throughout the winter this year and many still remain even now. The mild winter brought more cardinals, chickadees, and titmice to our acreage because of insects and seedlings under the decaying leaves. The birds aren't spending much time eating now that they are busy looking at real estate to nest in. male and female finch a little confrontation here The finch don't play well with others..........someti...
Still no hummingbird sightings to report. Added another hummingbird attracting plant to the porch yesterday and made a new brew of nectar. This time of year I use 1/3 cup of sugar to one cup of water. The tired little birds need an extra jolt of sweet in their juice. Last week after the garden was tilled, I put in more than 40 seed potatoes then relaxed in my garden chair to watch them grow. From the wicker chair view, it looked like I still had plenty of space to put in more potatoes so the next day I drove to Wayne's and bought about another 5 pounds. Now I have Yukon Gold, Maine Kennebec, and Reds. These shoulder and arm muscles have been on winter break. I thought between yoga, the kettle bell, and the 10 lb weights off and on during the winter, I'd be ready for my garden when spring came. Not so. That night after hoeing, digging, clearing more large rocks out, bending over to put in the seed potatoes, then coverin...
The Chief of Volunteer Fire Station 25 drove his tractor from Martin's Creek Rd along the full length of Hedden and up Boulder Creek Rd to our garden this morning. It's not unusual this time of year to see tractors traveling on any of the roads. As we drove through the middle of town this morning, we got behind a tractor meandering along in traffic. The chief has farmed here all of his life, including dairy, and knows tractors like the back of hand. He stays busy restoring and rebuilding tractors in his retirement, pastors a small local church, and runs station 25. The clay's been so saturated from all the rain, that this is the first time he's been able to till the garden and he told me that he is planting his potatoes tomorrow. So tomorrow is potato planting day on the mountain. Went to Wayne's and bought fertilizer and potatoes. Wayne was back in business within a week after the tornadoes destroyed his building. Volunteers helpe...
The mysteries of the night intrigue me. Since retiring and moving here, I've often wondered what roams our woods in the wee dark hours and walks the porch while we sleep. Some nights when we hear the creak of a board or the soft patter of feet on the porch, we figure it's probably a possum on its way to the recycle box to lick the last tiny bit of missed spaghetti sauce from a quickly rinsed jar. Just recently, we were both awakened from a sound sleep during the dark of night to the sound of animals running back and forth along the back porch. The sounds weren't dense thuds so neither of us got up to investigate. If I had heard growling or furniture being tossed, I would have given up my comfort and flipped on the porch lights. Not having any measurable snow this year, I wasn't able to track the night visitors. Often when we are out and about doing errands and Cliff stops to chat with his favorite pe...
The time change and the unseasonably warm weather coaxes me like an adventurer searching for an ancient treasure. Tuesday I washed out one of the window boxes, filled it with new potting soil, and planted half with oregano vulgare and the other half with Genovese basil seeds and set the box in the direct sunlight outside of the kitchen window. This week all the house plants are playing in the dappled sun and swaying in the soft breezes. Tomato plants are hardening off on the porch during the day but coming back in at night. Overnight temps range from 45 to 50 degrees. Amish paste and Thessaloniki tomatoes Yesterday Cliff moved the stack of winter firewood from the back porch down to the wood pile near the shed. We still could get the "blackberry winter" snow during the first week of April but it will be very short-lived. Average weather for April is sunny and 70's. The garden hasn't been tilled yet. We have a farmer fri...
We spent last week at the Saratoga Springs Resort on the Disney complex, our Christmas gift from Michael and Mike Jr. The cold front that came through our area spawning tornadoes made its way all the way to Florida bringing their temperatures back to a more normal daytime range of 83 degrees. We forgot what that soupy humidity felt like. The view from our 4th floor suite. When we lived in Deltona and had the annual passes, we spent a lot of time walking around Epcot tasting foods from different worlds and each spring enjoyed the Flower Festival. A couple of times we hopped to the other parks, but Epcot was our favorite. During this stay we didn't enter any of the parks. Not being a Florida resident anymore, our pass cost would have eaten up a social security check! Downtown Disney was within walking distance so that became our evening walk destination. The last time we were in that area, the children were young so it was interesting to...
Wednesday night I met with the ladies at the Olive Garden in Orange City, FL for my first "night out" in three years since I retired and moved to Murphy. Six of us remain in our circle of friends.........all of us teachers. Over the years as the time was right, someone in our circle was able to retire from the school system. Those of us who had to continue awakening with the alarm, making lesson plans, correcting papers, coping with a classroom full of varying personalities and needs, and sitting through dreaded droning faculty meetings watched the transformation of our retired sisters. Their baggy eyes were rejuvenated, wrinkles and scowl lines melted away, and their spines supported them upright again! This June the 5th of our 6 will close the door to her classroom, turn her responsibilities over to a new person, and join the ranks of us who have released our tensions and now sip morning coffee with no time restraints.
Last night was our Empty Bowls event in Brasstown. I just love this gathering of people. We arrived about 45 minutes before the doors op ened to get a good place in line because the event is a sellout every year. The late afternoon air was a little cool, but not bad. The Folk School resident musicians entertained us with mountain music while we stood outside in line then continued their singing inside while we ate and chatted with people at our tables. This year we had two soups, the usual Brasstown beef and barley and a delicious vegetarian cream-of-corn, plenty of fresh salad, their kitchen-made wheat bread, and oatmeal raisin cookies. The tables are set to seat ten people. The dining area is three connected rooms and we were seated in the middle room. In my opinion, it's the best place to see all the action and goings-on. We bought ten raffle tickets for the paper bag raffle but didn't win any of the donated clay pieces this yea...
We made it safely through the night. No hail or damaging wind here on the mountain. The worst of the storm passed a few miles to our north. As we read the comments and reports on our radio station WKRK Facebook page, we're finding out there is more damage than we knew about last night. I think this truck was in the Save-A-Lot parking lot. I just returned to WKRK FB and noticed this new shot of Wayne's Feed and Grain! It looks like it's totally destroyed. Our drugstore is in the same complex as Ingles and had some structural damage. We were heading out this morning to pick up our Rx's. The tornado did do damage to Wayne's Feed and Grain store. Hope it didn't scatter the little peeps. The second line of storms spawned tornadoes in the Candy Mountain area on 294 completely closing down some of the roads. The fire/rescue dispatchers did an amazing job last night during the storm. WKRK...
We've been under tornado watches and warnings as the lines of severe storms pelted downtown Chattanooga with golf-ball sized hail then moved through the Ocoee Gorge and quickly descended into Murphy. We put our sneakers back on, kept flashlights and cell phones nearby in case we needed to head down to the crawl space. The first line of storms hit downtown Murphy missing us. As we monitored the fire radio, we heard rescue units reporting tornado damage at Ingles (our grocery store), Doyles Restaurant, Brothers' Restaurant, a car crushed by fallen trees, and people trapped in their homes from the storm damage. A second severe storm passed along the same route only minutes later doing more damage to an already weakened area. Reports of storm and tornado damage are still coming in and we are in for storms all through the night until this front passes through.
Temperature reached 76 today, sunny......absolutely delightful. I am so getting garden fever! Cliff was busy with his fire department all morning.....something about changing radio frequencies......a left-brain function. I was happy staying home on the mountain, opened doors and windows allowing the breezes to blow the dust off the furniture. Had some orders for more yoga mat bags and another apron to make. Also baked a batch of Mexican Chocolate Cookies. When I get the urge to bake desserts, I don't always follow through because there is no one to eat the desserts but us. And if the desserts are in the house, we would keep eating because we have no will power. My skinny yoga instructor/hair dresser has a fast metabolism and loves desserts so I brought her most of the cookies today keeping only what Cliff and I needed for one day. Today I checked the hummingbird-sighting site online and the hummers have been sighted along ...