The Mountain Thymes

On the way home from doing a few errands in town this morning, Cliff was paged out to respond  non-emergency to an elderly man who had fallen off his step-ladder.  Non-emergency means he couldn't switch the red strobe light on and step up the speed a little.  There's more Adrenalin when  responding emergency.  When medics arrived on the scene, they found it necessary to have the patient flown by Life Force to Erlinger in Chattanooga.  Station 17 was then toned out to set up the landing zone for the chopper's arrival.  We drove to the station and I got to ride shotgun in the engine to the LZ. Medic 4 arriving at the field they use for the LZ.  About 30 minutes later, Life Force heading back to Erlinger with the patient. This gave me a better understanding of the process the medics and responders go through to ready their patient and secure him in the chopper for transport.  For me it was quite a thing to witness but for a patient, it must be unnerving and

Once upon a time deep in the forests of mountainous western North Carolina, Goldilocks came upon an adorable mini-dwelling.                                            My new garden shed!  Nothing is easy when you live on the side of a mountain.  Cliff's friend, Dutch, came by to help dig and level the platform.                                                       front view Placing the parts to be assembled near the site.  Walls are held together with the square connectors that slipped into grooves. We began assembling around 8:30 Sunday morning.  Cloudy day with no rain.  Clouds kept the temp down a little but it was humid.. Now he decides to read the directions!   Just kiddin'. Floor and walls were pretty simple.  Doors, front and back triangles, and roof took time and patience.  I'm glad I had my strength back.  Holding the roof piece and snapping it into place took muscle and stamina. To put the right side roof piece on, I balanced o

Little things make me happy like hand-printed letters and drawings from the grandchildren, our Carolina wren perched atop Cliff's tower singing his heart out first thing in the morning, the taste of pure goat cheese purchased from Donna at the farmers market, and just recently discovered at Wayne's Feed Store, Deer Stopper barrier ribbon!  In preparation for our trip to Myrtle Beach a few weeks ago, Cliff and I started to wrap twine around bamboo poles hoping to deter deer from wiping out my yellow and green beans.  He didn't have any faith in my plan and I doubted it would work.  He insisted we go to Wayne's and find a product that would give me a better chance than twine.  In the six years I've been planting, the beans never made it taller than about six inches and if they did, once the sweet blossoms appeared so did the deer.  I bought the last box on the shelf.  The barrier tape needs to be tied tautly thirty inches from the ground.  If it sags, it won'

My first time riding the down the tube water slide with Grant on our mini vacation at Myrtle Beach. This was a major accomplishment for me.  My idea of a thrill ride is the tea cups at Disney.  While in line climbing the stairs, Grant kept checking with me to see if I had butterflies and was doing okay and was such a good sport to put up with my screaming all the way down.  It was so much fun we got Cliff to ride it.  Last June when family members got together in Florida for Richard and Sarah's wedding, Mark and Kathy invited us to join everyone at the beach house they were renting for the family reunion this summer.  Cliff and I delighted in watching the expression on friends' faces when we announced that we were spending a few days in Myrtle Beach with my ex-husband and his wife.  Closer view of my water ride. The race slide which I did not do.  We floated on the lazy river and I climbed the stairs a few more times to ride the tube.  By noon the lines were so long,