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The names we choose for our children reveal our deepest wishes and desires. Names may invoke strength, leadership, peace or just be passed on to carry the family name. Now that I live on the side of a mountain, I secretly feel like I am Orestina, the Italian mountain dweller. Twenty-two years ago when John's son Matthew was born and he began talking, I became "Beanie"............the most beautiful sound to my ears. We answer to Pau Pau and Papa to our grandchildren in Virginia. I am Grammy to Mike Jr, Richard and Chris. Cliff loves being called Papa by all. Today we were honored with another endearing title. Matthew and Taelor gave birth to our first Great-grandson in Kentucky. Christopher weighed in at 8 lbs 5 oz and is 20" long. Whoa! That makes John and Carolyn grandma and grandpa. Boy, am I going to have fun with that. We are so blessed!!!
Just one day of being iced-in almost drove us batty. On the days that we never leave the mountain by choice, we're usually busy and engaged in projects so that time passes and we don't mind being here all day. But.............. when an ice storm hinders that freedom, minutes drag by giving an illusion of a 48-hour day. Yesterday our temperature remained at 27 degrees until around 3 pm when it hit 32. Showers of freezing rain covered trees, roads, and the porch. The birds were crazy with hunger darting to the feeders and scavenging the ground. My intention this winter was to purchase a birdbath heater but I just never did it so yesterday I poured boiling water into the birdbath to keep it open for my thirsty birds. Between the 10-day period of recent rain and yesterday's icy conditions, I started quilting some squares with all the leftover scraps of material that fill a huge plastic container. Not sure how the squares will be used but, arranging the pieces made it e
Wednesday the garage got caulked and stained. Surprisingly, the three men showed up in 32 degree weather and began caulking. Light fixtures, windows, and opened entry were taped off. The guy with the extension roller touched up and brushed any running as the ladder guy puffed on the stain. A slight breeze carried the stain particles from the sprayer off into the air. We parked our vehicles far enough down the road and away from the house so the floating mist wouldn't land on them. We've had a number of different subcontractors over the last couple of months. Most of them left at lunchtime to grab a bite and get away from the work site. A few brought sandwiches with them in their trucks and ate here, took a short break, then returned to work. There was one who politely asked me if I would mind microwaving his container of chili so he didn't have to eat it cold. I heated it up in one of our ceramic bowls and he sat out on the porch talking with us while he a
"Today is your day, your mountain is waiting, so get on your way." ~ Dr. Seuss Sometimes a mountain woman just has to hang the apron on a hook, get out of the kitchen, and tackle some outside chores. Actually, Sunday was such a gorgeous day that we spent most of it outside. There was a sharp nip to the air, but the temperature reached 57 and we were comfortable in our sweatshirts. "Dagwood" showed me how to safely use the log splitter. After the wedge splits and breaks a log most of the way through, I finish pulling the two halves apart and toss them into the wheel barrow. There is a cold front coming through today, Monday, and the temperatures will rapidly be dropping from mid-50's to the teens. Sunday we split and stacked plenty of wood on the porch to keep the wood stove burning through this cold spell. I found some new winter soups to try.
The sun tried to break through this afternoon. I saw a strange brightness in the sky and a yellow glow behind a light grey cloud so I darted out onto the porch, tilted my head upward, and reached my hands to the heavens trying to capture the glow..................then it was overshadowed by deep opaqueness (is that a word?) and it was gone. The rain gauge shows 2 more inches today. Eight inches of rain since Monday. I checked my feet to see if they were webbed yet. The creek is thunderous. Temperature is dropping to a low of 26, more normal for January nights. A perfect night for a warm Carrot-Cauliflower Soup with Tarragon. It's a nice thick winter soup. Cliff had rye bread with his and I had hummus on Ak-Mak crackers. Rumor has it there will be a sunrise tomorrow morning.
Rain gauge shows 5+ inches since Monday. Who took my sun? Many schools in east Tennessee and Cherokee County are closed due to flooding roads and extremely hi gh rivers. The little rippling creek at the bottom of our mountain. Tomorrow we'll see 1-3 inches of snow before this systems moves on and the sun returns on Friday with more seasonal temperatures.
Rain in Biblical proportions! I'm building an ark with leftover garage materials. Another 2 inches overnight and it hasn't even let up. Our little rippling creek at the bottom of our property can now be heard from the porch and we can see white water rafters go whizzing by. Saturday we had about a 30 minute period of sun before clouds and rain returned. We sat on the porch watching the clouds move back in. This is a skyward shot of our gnarly old oak that provides a wonderful canopy in the summer. Squirrels make their large unkempt nests high up overlooking the porch. In the fall when the tree is full of acorns, the squirrels ping us with the acorns for their entertainment. Cliff looking at the weather radar to see how much longer we have before we should move our chairs to the back porch. I'm not really drunk, just relaxed. The temperatures have been so mild, I put the potted plants out days ago and was able to leave them out overnight. From the ga
Well, we still don't have a garage door. It's been warm, dreary, rainy, moist, with early mountain fog that has been keeping the concrete floor wet. The truck and the car are back to being parked outside in their original spots in hopes that the air might move a little more freely and begin to dry the floor. They're probably wondering what they did wrong to be banished back to the elements. The door is a standard door and has been ordered and paid for over a month. Friday while Cliff was at Lowe's speaking with the manager, a message was left on our phone that the door would be delivered on the 17th and the installer would be calling to set up a time. By the time he arrived home after telling the manager that this was the last time we would be making any more large purchases from Lowe, an updated phone message said the door was now in at Lowe's. Hmmmmm.............how did that happen?! But.........the door is the wrong size. We ordered an 8' x 16' s
We reached a high of 52 degrees today. The 4' X 10' porch that leads to the service door was built today. I had considered asking my builder to make it about 6' X 12' or so just to allow a little more room. Cliff in his supervisory stance. He really was helping. View from standing at the back of the garage looking at our house. To the right is the shed Bill and Cliff built our first year here. Everyone was gone by about 3:30. Porch is completed. It's a solid very well built porch. View from the service door. So I'm very pleased I didn't request a 6' X 10' or larger porch because the wood alone (no labor) for this little gem was $700! Leading to the service door. This is why I was impressed with the detailed light fixture on the garage. Here is the way the light fixture was attached to the house. Woods and garden view from little porch. Tomorrow I'll put my workbench
"We are here to love each other, serve each other, and uplift each other." ~today's Yogi tea bag We topped off at 48 sunny degrees today. There was a little bite in the air but if you were in the sun, a sweatshirt was all you needed. This morning by 9, the driveway was full of electricians, carpenters, and the woman who gave us an estimate on staining the log siding when the garage is complete. Carpenter made a detailed box for the electrician to attach the outside lights. I was impressed with this because the light on the house was just attached to the siding. Little details................ View from Cliff's window. Look carefully and you'll see a light bulb. Carpenters were closing in the back wall and putting on the siding. Trenching for the electrical conduit. Back enclosed, siding complete. The window will be Cliff's radio room. At 5 PM. At 6:30 PM. Tomorrow Jeff and Larry will built a small porch