CATS!!!!

I've always had a cat, a dog when growing up.  But somewhere along the line I've had 3 horses, well 2 horses and a pony, 2 dogs and 2 cats.  Then I was down to 2 dogs and 2 cats.  Then I was down to no pets at all.  That left a big hole in my life.

So when a friend's cat had kittens, I thought I'd go and see....not really certain I wanted another responsibility.  But that adorable orange cat and, of course, I couldn't resist the calico since she looked just like one I'd had growing up...so I came home with 2.

Fearless fit the calico and Frankie fit the orange cat because he had Frank Sinatra's blue eyes!  As soon as they were old enough I had them altered since I feel there are way too many unwanted cats and dogs so each responsible pet owner should alter their pets.

Little by little Frankie and Fearless grew into wonderful companions.  Fearless loved to great guests at the front door, then dashed around to the porch and would hop up on the hammock to be rocked as the guests came by.  She also liked to climb up the side of the Inn which is a lot cabin.  She would work her way up the logs until she was sitting on the balcony of the Appalachian Spring Room.

Unfortunately, the cats all enjoyed the out-of-doors and one fall I heard what sounded like a baby crying.  Turned out to be a bobcat which must have gotten all three cats because I never saw them again.  One of the dangers of living in the woods you don't know what might be out there.

After a period of no cats, I was at the town dump one morning and heard what sounded like cats crying.  Looking into the trailers where the trash is dumped, I saw two scrawny skinny cats: one white and one orange.  Getting the dump supervisor we were able to rescue the white cat and after finding a cardboard box to put it in, I headed home...with a stop at the vet on the way.

Squeak, after her very harrowing start to life, has turned into the finest cat in the world!  For over a year she was my boon companion and still today, she gets very upset when I go out of town and leave her even though I adopted another cat (Mouse) so Squeak would have a friend.

Then there is Noisy who just showed up one day and has continued to gain weight.  Why is it one cat can be overweight and the other two are just fine?  Same food out all the time, but like people Noisy has a slow metabolism I guess.

So my cats...well, I couldn't get along without them at the end of a long day.  However, I could get along without them when I'm trying to work at my desk and when they take over my bed at night!  I may have to go to another bedroom if I want a good night's rest!

Butler, TN "The Town That Wouldn't Drown" Part II

Continued.....

So in 1999 when a group of alumni from the Watauga Academy began to talk about building a museum to keep the memories of Butler alive, there was a great deal of interest.  The Butler Ruritan, led by Larry Shoun of Shoun’s Lumberyard, offered some of the land which had been donated to the Ruritan by Babe Curtis on which to build the museum. Shoun Lumber donated all the lumber which was used to build the museum and the inmates from the Northeast Correctional Center provided the labor. 

Today the Museum stands as a testament to the dedication of the Watauga Alumni Association, the Butler Ruritan, the NECC and Shoun Lumber to preserve the past while looking forward to making more memories for the present citizens of Butler.

Oh, what happened to Carderview?  Well, the citizens of Butler didn’t keep that name for very long.  In fact, the only use of the name today is as the name of the water company serving Butler.

Before the Tennessee Valley Authority built the world's largest earthen dam, Butler was the hub of life in the Watauga River Valley.  Native Americans, Daniel Boone, Frontiersmen, Scots and Irish - all found the lush valley, hardwood forests and softer climate hard to leave.

Mostly passed by during the Civil War, Butler and the surrounding communities of Fish Springs, Poga, Little Milligan, etc. have kept to "the old ways", living off the land to a great extent, taking care of family, being involved in their churches and welcoming strangers as friends.

In 1949 the dam began generating power. Today the TVA provides power for over 9 million customers through its series of over 34 lakes and dams. 

Watauga Dam is 318 feet high and extends 900 feet across the Watauga River. t more than 1,900 feet above sea level, Watauga holds the distinction of being the highest reservoir in the Tennessee River system. The reservoir is managed for many uses, including flood damage reduction, power generation, water quality, and aquatic ecology.

Surrounded by the Cherokee National Forest and flanked by the Appalachian Mountains, Watauga Lake is one of the most scenic in the Tennessee River watershed. It offers access to the Appalachian Trail. Below Watauga Dam is a wildlife observation area where visitors have a chance to view unique species of waterfowl.

Watauga Lake is also a great place to fish, swim, and paddleboard.  Bring your boat, or rent one from one of the marinas and explore the feeder streams and coves which surround the lake.  There are also many homes to rent on the lake including the www.houseonwataugalake.com right in Butler.  This is a view from the Blue Bedroom!~

Butler, Tennessee "The Town That Wouldn't Drown"

Butler, TN may not be well-known to the outside world, or even to our neighbors on Johnson City or Boone, NC, but it’s history is one which illustrates many of the changes which have occurred as the land west of the Allegany Mountains was settled.

History comes alive at the Butler Museum in Butler, TN.  Built in 2000 out of native lumber, the Museum is a replica of the train depot which once brought settlers and speculators to the mountains. The Museum is dedicated to telling the story of the communities along the Watauga River Valley and Butler, TN “The Town That Wouldn’t Drown”.

Founded by the last graduating class of Watauga Academy in Butler, TN, Shoun's Lumber Company, the Butler Ruritan, and built by the inmates of the Northeast Correctional Facility, the Museum recounts 200 years of life in the mountains of northeast Tennessee.

From the time of Daniel Boone there had been a settlement at the headwaters of the Watauga River.  Legend has it that while traveling on his way to Kentucky, Boone stopped next to the river in a lush pasture.  Here he turned his faithful horse, Roan, loose to live out his days in comfort.  There was plenty of fresh mountain water and lush green grass for grazing so Boone knew Roan would comfortable in his last days.

 

On his return two years later, stopping at the same peaceful riverside site, he saw a fat glossy horse in the distance.  Immediately on sensing his presence, the horse ran up to Boone.  Overjoyed to see his faithful companion so healthy and welcoming of his appearance, Boone took his saddle from the horse he had been riding, saddled Roan and over the mountains they went reaching home in quick time.

In the following years, settlers arrived creating homes, farms and businesses along the fertile river valley.  Soon it was large enough for a grist mill and the town become known as Smith’s Mill.  Next came a small general store where farmers could purchase those items they couldn’t raise themselves.

In 1860 a secondary school was organized.  Named Aenon Seminary it soon had borders from the surrounding area as well as local students.  Boarders, including some of the teachers, were housed with local residents during the school year. The school grew and soon built their own brick building which was finished in the spring of 1886.  It became known as Holly Springs College. 

But war arrived in the mountains.  Although some of the settlers had slaves, most of them sided with the Union.  Times were uneasy for everyone during those war years.  No battles were fought in the area, but many of the men did leave to join one side or the other.

As the new century began, the railroad finally arrived in Butler and in 1902 Holly Springs College because Holly Springs Institute and then in 1906 it became the Watauga Academy.  From then until the last class in 1948, Watauga Academy was a leading educational establishment in Northeastern Tennessee.  Until its students were transferred to Hampton or Mountain City schools, the Academy had day and boarding students.  Today, the local students of Butler can choose to attend the schools in Carter or Johnson County because Butler straddles the county line.

 “New Butler” was created by the Tennessee Valley Authority during the Roosevelt Administration.  Started in the late 1940’s, once again war interrupted the history of Butler.  But as soon as the war was over, in 1945 the TVA began to buy up the farms and homesteads of families living in Butler along the Watauga River.  The TVA’s idea was to control flooding, to bring electricity to the mountains and as it turned out, to create one of the best recreational lakes in Tennessee! The dam was completed and the gates were closed in December, 1948.  Soon Butler was just memories and photographs.  When completed the dam was the largest earthen dam in the world.  Today it is the third largest as there are two larger ones in China along the Yellow River.

But it disrupted the lives of over 700 families who had lived along the river for generations.  Houses were moved, businesses were closed down, families were split with the older members having to leave the area when the younger members were unable to find jobs.  Some were moved to a tract of land which the TVA had bought and called Carderview.  Some bought land with the money they received from the TVA for their homes and moved into the hills.  Others just gathered their belongings and moved away.  But all kept alive the memories of Butler.

To Be Continued

A Road Trip

Google said it would take me 7.5 hours to get from Tennessee to Lancaster, PA so I decided I could drive up Friday, watch my granddaughter, Miss Sway, compete in a gymnastics meet on Saturday, return home right after the meet and I would be in time on Sunday to take care of serving breakfast to guests at the Iron Mountain Inn where I am the Innkeeper.

After making arrangements to have my assistant come, lay a trail of red rose petals to the guest's room and prepare breakfast the next morning, I contacted the guest and explained the situation.  He was most gracious and said he looked forward to seeing me on Sunday.

I packed a toothbrush and change of underwear and headed north via I-81 through the Shenandoah Valley (bit of a boring drive), through West Virginia, then Maryland and finally into Pennsylvania.  A right turn at exit 59 onto 581 about an hour from the Marriott Hotel and convention center where the Red Rose Invitational meet was to be held..

I left home at 8:30 expecting to be in Lancaster and the hotel by 4:00.  But something went wrong…either I misread Google’s directions and time, or Google can’t map. Of course, we all know Google has the best maps in the world, but the time of a trip…hummm.

Anyway, I finally arrived at the Iron Hill Brewing Company restaurant just across from Franklin and Marshall College at 6:30 in time to meet my daughter and granddaughter for dinner.

I understand there are dorms above the brewery!  Now wouldn’t that be a good place to live during your college years!  I did have to stop and ask a mounted policeman for the final 10 minutes drive since my TomTom confused me…not for the first time! And I’d given up on Google.

A lovely dinner of mussels (which we don’t serve often in the mountains of East Tennessee), checking out various cell phones (do I want an Iphone 4 or 5) and generally catching up. 

Although there was a pool at the hotel, no swimming before a meet!  So it would just have to wait until after the meet the next afternoon. Then it was time for an early bedtime for one and all to be rested for the meet the next day.

Preparing Miss Sway's very long hair for the competition is quite a procedure!  Luckily her mom is a hairdresser so is prepared with lots of hair pins, hair spray and the skills needed to wind three thick strands of hair into a beautiful bun on back of Sway's head.  A hair net and scrunchy finished the job.  Then it was time to put on the competition leotard and head down to breakfast.  Be CAREFUL not to spill anything on the leo!

Meeting some other team members a lively start to the day helped calm any nerves which might be setting up butterflies.  The meet started at noon, but the team members were due at warmup by 11:15.  Running, stretching, finalizing skills - then the meet began.  Uneven bars were the first event and Sway did a fabulous routine - one of the best she has ever one!  What a great way to start!

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=522047504512403&set=a.422495281134293.111124.124045604312597&type=1&theater

To be continued

Winter's Day and Thoughts on Breakfast

The sun shooting rays through the clouds this morning  highlighted the Iron Mountains' brush cut ridge.  4000 feet means the snow will stay up there even as it begins to melt here at the Iron Mountain Inn about 1400 feet below.  But as I write this the sun is high in the sky, snow is dripping from the gutters and it's a gorgeous day.

But another storm is due in tomorrow night into Wednesday.  I guess I'd better check my pantry, but the last time I looked I could live up here for a month or more and not worry about running out of food.  I might end up eating some strange combinations, but that would get rid of some of those "that recipe sounds interesting" items which were bought and maybe never used.  Or maybe used part of the spice or ingredient or one time use pan and the end result wasn't as good as the anticipation so never want to make THAT recipe again!

I love reading cookbooks and dreaming about all the wonderful things I'm going to prepare.  But somehow, the dreaming is about all that happens except for breakfast items.  Now there I'm a champ!  I know, I could perfect some special Iron Mountain Inn recipes (like our chocolate chip cookies) and serve them over and over, but I'd get bored cooking the same things all the time.  And then there are the many repeat customers who want to try something new.

One of my favorite cookbooks is from the 1940's when ingredients were in short supply.  People had to make do or do without and there were some things you didn't want to "do without"!  So there is the cookbook, "How to Cook a Wolf" by M.F.K. Fisher.  Great fun just to read the chapter titles!  My mother used this book during "the War" and I don't remember feeling I was missing something.

Now that I have the bed and breakfast, I'm looking for unique breakfast items, especially for the customers who stay for a week or more and want to enjoy a full breakfast each morning.  Then I really get creative!  Which I enjoy because it gives me an excuse to check into the cookbooks looking at the beautiful pictures and reading the ingredients and spices--most of which I have at this point!  But there is still the time element and I do like to sleep in whenever possible!  So my choices run to the following:

A. Need something which is easy to prepare at the last minute
B. Need something that can be prepared the night before, put into the oven, turn on the timer and then I can
     really sleep in a little longer!
C. Need to alternate ingredients - can't serve an egg dish every morning, nor pancakes every morning.  And
     then there are the sides...bacon, Canadian bacon, sausage patties, link sausage, Vienna sausage, turkey
     rolls - all good ideas depending on what the main course is.
D. Need to get to bed no later than 9:30!

But right now it's time to squeeze the oranges for nice fresh juice tomorrow.  I've got 10 lbs of navel oranges and they are making wonderful juice!





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Opera in the Mountains

The International Tenors (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kSxh5xS5UaI) came to Heritage Hall in Mountain City, TN this evening and although the crowd was sparse...they were enthusiastic!  And those who came were treated to a fine evening of good music, some memories from long long ago and a great addition to the entertainment of Johnson County.

The three tenors who are from Canada combined videos of Italian, French and German scenery while they sang selections from popular operas of those countries.  O Sole Mia was also included...as were songs from famous tenors who have passed on.  These were shown in videos of the tenors performing and included some biographical facts.    The audience was amazed at how young Caruso and Lana were when they died.

This was a nice interlude between songs, and I thought the International Tenors were very brave to show videos of the famous tenors singing their signature arias and then follow the video with a live rendition of the songs.

Some of the historic tenors included Enrico Caruso, Mario Lanza, Lucianno Pavorati and who would-a thought Elvis!  He was a tenor after all.

Many years ago on my birthday in June, my godfather took me to Radio City Music Hall to see the show and movie.  In those days, there were continuous performances so you might come in at the middle of the show or movie and then just wait till it rolled around again.  We always sat in the second balcony, center.  This year, as we opened the doors to our seats, Mario Lanza started singing Happy Birthday directly to me!  My godfather always said he planned it that way!  After the show, we always went to Schrafts for ice cream.
Memories...wonderful and beautiful watercolors in the mind.

A few Broadway songs were thrown in for a light motif - of course, those which were song by tenors!  My Fair Lady introduced On The Street Where She Lives and Sound of Music was Eidelweis with audience participation.

There is a full schedule of events at Heritage Hall in the coming months.  Productions from Barter Theatre, just over the state line in Abingdon, VA to the local high school theater group doing a murder mystery musical, Musical Comedy Murders of the 40's!  There is some amazing talent here in the mountains, not only Cody Norris and his Watauga Mountain Boys.  Cody's shows always sell out!  It'll be May 25th this year if you think you might like to try and come I suggest calling for tickets right away.

For more information on shows at Heritage Hall check their website: heritagehalltheatre.org.  And then check for a room at the Iron Mountain Inn B&B just down the road from the theater on their website: www.ironmountaininn.com

Recipes

It seems that blogs with recipes are very popular.  Welllll, I have some recipes from my family and my husband's family which those of you reading this might enjoy.

However!!  I am NOT giving out the recipe for the famous Iron Mountain Inn chocolate chip cookies!  Guests have wheedled, begged, bribed all to no avail.  This recipe is only going to passed along to my granddaughter when I am on my deathbed!

My granddaughter enjoys helping me make these cookies especially since her dad really enjoys eating them. Whenever I visit, I have to take some along because the ones I make with the local flour, eggs, and other ingredients just don't taste the same as the ones I make back home at the Inn.

Here are a stack of them.  They won't last long once guests arrive.  In fact, those guests who have visited before, head directly to the cookie jar, don't even pass Go, just want the freshly baked cookies to start their visit at the Iron Mountain Inn B&B.

On the other hand, I do have some recipes which I am delighted to share.  My great-grandmother's cook, Maude, is one.  She was known to spend her days up to her elbows in flour and sugar.  But one of the unique recipes which has been handed down is how to cook fresh green beans.

First you get a big pot of boiling water with a little salt in it.  Then you snap off the ends of the string less beans.  No cutting off the ends, that changes the beans in some way according to the recipe.  Then you plop the beans in the boiling water and add a little baking soda.  This helps keep them green even when they are cooked a little more than al dente.

Now comes the unique part...you must skim the scum off the surface of the water with a sterling silver spoon!  Nothing else works quite as well.  I know, I've tried.

Once the beans are cooked to a crispness of your liking, drain them and then pouring ice over them to keep them from cooking any longer.  This is if you aren't serving them right away, hot from the pot!  Of course, if you live in Estes Park, CO, hot from the pot isn't very hot at 9,000'!   I've been with friends and we stood around the stove eating directly from the pot to have slightly warm food!

The beans are very good as is.  Or add some unsalted butter to them.  Add some herbs such as a little  basil or oregano.  That's the beauty of cooking....you never have to eat or prepare the same food twice in a row.  In fact...you could go through life never eating the same thing twice!  After all, every cook does something just a little different.  I compare it to Bach, Beethoven and the Beetles.  They all took the same notes, but look at what each of them did with them!  Sure aren't the same!

Now, are you going to try this method of cooking green beans?

Fireworks Display

Tonight at the Iron Mountain Inn B&B in Butler, TN, we had a fireworks display courtesy of the gentlemen staying the chalet.

They are here to upgrade the cell phone towers to 4G - not sure which company, but maybe they will bring in a tower or two for ATT since we don't get any signal from that service.

I'd post a picture of the fireworks - they were magnificent mortars which echoed and reechoed around the mountains., but I dropped my Nikon and it has been sent in for repair.

The small particles from the boom rained down on the cars and people watching!  Like the patter of gentle rain.  We had had a rain storm last night so the forest was wet and the roof on the Inn is metal.  Hopefully we won't have any sparks to start a forest fire!  I never allow fireworks unless it has rained and the trees are wet.  But the smaller fireworks I set off have never created the "rain".

Guests at the Inn and I stayed here on this front porch.  The fireworks were set off inside an old horse watering trough since it was a more stable surface than the gravel of the driveway.  Once I did have some fireworks tip and people were running out of the way!  I learned and now everyone must stay on the porch!

Safety first!

We often do fireworks for proposals, weddings, anniversaries and "just because".  They are legal in Tennessee all year round, but I've never done any as big and loud as these!  WOW!

Community Helping Others

Tuesday and Thursday a group of seniors meets at a local church in Mountain City, TN to stretch under the direction of Phil.

While we were warming up this morning, some of the church members brought in boxes and boxes of donated food from the local markets.  This is distributed into boxes on a long table awaiting the arrival of those who need help feeding their families.

During the hour we were stretching, at least 10 families were able to receive boxes containing bread, canned goods, packaged items and bottles of juices.  Although it might not be considered the most healthy diet since there were no fresh vegetables or fruits, it will help the families until their gardens begin to produce later in the spring and summer.

And this is another of the wonderful things about this small rural mountain community...almost everyone has a garden and when they begin to produce those who have too much share with those who live in town, or rent and so do not have access to their own gardens.

Neighbors helping neighbors, the American way.  Why can't politicians think like small town neighbors?  But I guess politicians have to think about how to keep getting reelected and what they can get for their constituents.  Of course, some of the boondoggles Congress sets for themselves make me think we should "throw the bums out" as Yogi Berra might have said.  But we don't, we complain and keep electing the same people over and over so the citizens have no one to blame but themselves.

Good eats =- Good company

Just wanted to pass along a recipe I found in the Home and Away Cookbook put out by ETSU staff and friends.  It's a weighty tome...probably a pound or more, but so chock full of interesting information and fabulous recipes, well worth the heft.  And the price is very reasonable!

But as I said, it's the recipes in the book that make it especially interesting to me.  I've tried a few and one of my favorites, as well as a favorite each time I've served it at the Iron Mountain Inn B&B, is

Fire Roasted Red Pepper Soup

2 cloves garlic
½ cup sweet onion
2 tbls olive oil
1 ½ cups chicken stock
1 cup white wine
1 cup fresh basil
1  14 oz jar roasted red peppers pureed
1   8 oz can sweetened condensed milk
1  8 oz carton half and half

Saute garlic and onion in olive oil until tender.  Add chicken stock, reduce mixture by half.  Add wine and reduce again by half. Add basil and pureed peppers, salt and pepper to taste.  Heat for 5 minutes over low heat.  Remove from heat and blend mixture thoroughly in blender.  Return to low heat and add sweetened condensed milk and half and half. Re-season and simmer again for 5 minutes before serving.

Enjoy!

Let me know how you like it when you try it!

Come, share the magic of the mountains where every season has a reason to visit

Gas Prices

I went to town today although I really didn't want to.  But found a bill for Sprint hidden on my desk that I needed to pay as it was due TODAY.  Tried to pay online, but since I had cancelled the service, there was no way to reach a live person or even something remotely possible to pay online.

This meant I had to drive 25 miles each way to pay a $57.25 bill in order NOT to be charged all kinds of late fees, interest, etc.  But since I was there, I noticed that Walmart's gas was still $3.33 so I pulled up to the pump. It probably took me all of 3 minutes to see the price posted high above the station, pull to a pump, get out of my car and insert my WalMart card to save 5 cents per gallon.

But when I went to pump the gas...instead of being $3.28 (getting my 5 cent discount) it was $3.40!  I inquired of the attendant who was just coming out of the office as to the  discrepancy of the sign overhead and the price at the pump.

She walked over and looked up..."Oh, the price just changed." And so...in the blink of an eye, I was paying 10 cents more per gallon than I would have if I'd been there moments before.  It's one thing to have it change at midnight when no one is there, but the change in the middle of the afternoon when they haven't had a delivery...that's WalMart robbery!  Back to Food City for their 15 cents per gallon discount when you purchase items in their store.  Food City has better quality produce and meats than WalMart any day.

I'm especially aware of the price of gas since my Grand Cherokee Jeep with 4 wheel drive gets horrible gas mileage!  I bought it a year and a half ago because we'd had a couple of very bad winters and I thought I should get 4 wheel drive...then last year...no snow.  However, I have been glad to have it this winter!  And winter isn't over so it may be good again before the spring arrives.  But getting only 17 mpg is not the way I want a car to run.

But!  it sounded like spring this morning....I heard the song of birds!  It was such a wonderful sound to wake up to it made my day bright and cheery...until I got to WalMart.

HOUSEWORK

As an innkeeper and owner of 2 vacation rentals, I do a lot of housework!  Of course, I do have help, Carolyn and Val, but I try to do more myself...saves some money and also I catch things which they might overlook.

But today I had a case of toilet paper which needed to be put waaay up high on a shelf in the laundry room.  I don't like climbing on ladders and for this I'd have to get up and down up and down, so I opted to take my "claws" and one by one put the rolls onto the shelf.

The first ones didn't want to stand up - they just wanted to roll.  Oops!  But then I got the first two stacked and it was easy to continue to stacking the rest.  I learned that by clipping the little edge, I could stack them quite easily.  Then getting them down...I can just knock one into my hands.

Toilets need cleaning from top to bottom.  I think I have found a new product called Monofil which kills germs, fungi and infections for up to 30 days!  The product bonds to the surfaces and just needs wiping with vinegar and water or warm soapy water between the rebonding.  I'm looking forward to using this product to keep my properties germ free for longer period of time.

Kitchens.  By the time the dishes are rinse and put into the dishwasher and the leftovers are back in the frig...does one have left over left overs?  Last night I decided no.  But the floor needs to be mopped...how does it get so sticky and dirty in just one day of cooking?

Bedrooms: I love crisp clean sheets stretched tightly across the bed.  If I was really really rich, I'd have clean crisp sheets each and every day.  However, in my quarters, since I only sleep on one side of the bed as the cats take up the other side, I just flipped the sheets so I have clean ones and get two weeks out of one set of sheets.  the guests get beds made up every day and clean sheets on the third day as we try to be as green as possible.  Clean towels if the dirty ones are left on the floor.

When beds are freshly made, rugs are vacuumed, dressers are dusted and pictures are wiped down...the rooms and baths look so nice I enjoy just standing and admiring my handi-housework!  And when guests comment on how fresh and new things look, I smile.  thanks, guests.

Winter's Glory

What a week this has been!  Saturday and Sunday it was in the 70s.  In fact, the bank temp sign said 74 at 4:00 p.m.  Then as I came back up the mountain, the car said 70.  Whatever, it was a glorious weekend to enjoy a mid-winter break.

Then came the rain....Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday - all day, all night. It even started to fill up Watauga Lake which was let down about 30' this year for some repairs. Thursday the rain turned to sleet, then tiny bits of hail and finally snow at night.

Went to bed and it was still snowing, some parts of Johnson County were out of power although I had it and didn't have to use the generator, but this morning what a fabulous start to the day!  Sun glistening on the snow, the driveway with patches of gravel showing through, the birds fluttering to the bird feeders.

Speaking of birds...I find it interesting that birds are on the same schedule as Dr. Pepper - 10, 2 and 4.  And about 8 or daylight too.  But you can almost set you watch by the way they dive bomb the feeders, fighting for the best place and trying to chase away George, the squirrel.

It was a perfect day for a walk!  Warm and sunny but brisk!  Even now, late afternoon, the sun is the only thing in the clear blue sky.  It's almost a Colorado blue sky and the tips of Iron Mountain behind the Inn look like a senior citizen with a brush cut.  But a great deal of the snow has melted.

In fact, as I went walking, I heard plop plop from snow dropping from the tree limbs. Lots of small branches had fallen off in the rain, wind and weight of the snow.  One larger tree which I'll have to have John Edgar, my tree expert, cut up.  It's leaning against a clump of rhododendrons and other trees which will break with the weight.

Now the sun is slipping behind Iron Mountain so it's time to finish baking the chocolate chip cookies.

Odd weather

Here in Northeastern Tennessee flooding is going down and most of the roads are passable...at least the ones I use!  I've seen reports on the tv news and from friends about roads washed out, driveways impassable and now the weatherman is saying snow is on the way!

Just spoke to a friend who said the latest NOAA weather forecast is for 6-16" of snow...more in the higher elevations...that's me!  When Superstorm Sandy hit the coast, I had a foot of snow instead of rain and high wind.  Just looked out and it's begun raining again.  Just wish it would continue with the rain...but since I have a generator and lots of food, I'm ok for days if not weeks!

Love my generator!  Ordered it 15 years ago when I first started building, but what with one thing and another, it wasn't installed until 2000!  Not even in time for the Milennium!  But we didn't need it then so everything worked out ok.  However, we have needed a few other times...like the tornado in 2011, the ice storm over April First some years ago and few other times when someone has hit a power pole!  It comes on automatically 30 seconds after the power goes out, so I stay connected with the world!

Looking forward to sharing the magic of the mountains with guests this weekend...some new and some repeats.  Like the Girl Scout song says, "Make new friends, but keep the old...."

Till next time.
Day 16 of 365 days of blogging