Going In A Circle

I thought that maybe I had better let some of you know what is going on in our world. I know that you are just dying of anticipation to find out as our lives are so interesting.

I think that we are going in a circle. We left the cold country of Indiana and took off for West Point, NY. We had been to both places last fall. But family does have a certain pull for us. While in Indiana we saw some below zero weather. With the wind that they have there, it makes it VERY cold. We had a great time with By and L.

Traveling to West Point, we passed through the part of Pennsylvania that my maternal grandparents came from. We have talked about maybe settling near relatives. In the phone book there were around forty listings with my maternal grandfather's name. It is not a common last name. There were about that many for my maternal grandmother's name also. I told B that maybe we needed to settle there.

We had some warm weather here the day after we arrived. It was above freezing two days ago. However, it has cooled off again. B says he is ready to head back to Tennessee where it is warmer.

This afternoon we got to go the West Point concert band's Sousa concert. Our son-in-law plays in it. It was an enjoyable concert to listen to. Besides, I love marches.

There is a question that I have been pondering for the last couple of weeks. Maybe some one of you has an answer. If you eat your cereal out of a short, wide glass or a mug, is it okay to drink the rest of the milk when the cereal is all gone? I will await your answers.

Scissors Please

I guess I should update this and let you know what is happening.

I had been needing a hair cut since the last one was about a week before we pulled out of Yakima. Remember, that was the beginning of September.

Some years back I had started to let my hair grow out and then went to get it 'styled.' Well, she just cut it short. Since it is easier to care for and I was still putting it under a scrub cap every day at work, I just left it short. Now, since it has had some time to grow out again, I thought I would try for a longer style.

L needed to get hers trimmed too, so off we went to her beautician. While we were waiting, I found a picture of the style that I have been wanting. So I was able to show the woman and she did a great job of trimming it and shaping it for what I want. It still needs to grow out more for the 'finished' production.

How are these for looking like mug shots? It still needs to grow out more. Of course this picture was taken after I had fixed it a few days later. We should have taken a picture when I got back from having it cut and she fixed it. Eventually, the back will be longer too, but I have to wait for the rest to catch up. I also had to buy a straightening iron due to my curls.

Where's The Ark?

It was one evening in Dec. that we saw the first flash of lightening and heard the thunder. G said that they were in a drought and needed the rain. We had received some rain a few times before this. By the time B and I went out to the trailer it was pouring with lots of thunder and lightening.

I have never seen lightening storms like we had that night. It was probably around 10:00 when it started. At 2:00 AM it was still going on. I'm use to lightening and thunder at the start of a storm, but not lasting this long. There were some times that it shook not only the trailer, but also the house. Some of the lightening was within a quarter mile of where we were. Bob wondered if the baseball back stop would still be there in the morning; it was. It was still pouring down rain in the morning. A neighbor said that it was four and a fourth inches so far.

I wonder if one of the reasons that the thunder was so intense is that the clouds are much closer to the ground here. Since there are no mountains that force the cloud layer higher, the lightening is also closer.

If you look back at the picture of the ponds you can see that they were not full. By morning the water was going over the top of them. The overflow pipes were air locked. B and G got those going again but were not able to fix them for a few days so it continued to overflow at times.

It rained most of the day, about another three inches. And it rained the next night. By the second morning, when it was still raining, I asked if I should be building and ark. G said that the next time they have a drought in the area he is going to invite us to their place.

Things To See, Things To Do

I awoke early one morning and decided to go for a walk around the place. They have about 80 acres. As I came around the camper, I looked down towards the three ponds that G built and went back to get my camera. I could not miss this. The view from their front window is of the ponds.This picture is also for you, Karen. We also framed this and gave it to G and M for Christmas. I did go walking and took the following pictures.


Some of the individual leaves are pretty in the way they are colored. These show what I mean, even if they have a little mildew on them.
On another morning it had frosted so I had to take some pictures of that. Actually, it was more of a freeze as one of the pictures is of ice crystals on one of the ponds.

In part of the bottom area, there is a large "swamp" oak. The acorns are about twice the size of others. So M and I went gathering one day. We decorated some for Christmas ornaments and their grand kids had fun making things with them.

The deer had already started eating a lot of them, and some were already splitting. Most had lost their caps so we had to hunt to find a match.

Their son, R, has a couple pecan trees by their house. M and I went over one day to pick up some. His wife, S, helped us pick for less then an hour and we had a 5 gallon bucket full. There were still lots hanging in the tree and it looked like we only covered about one fourth of the area on the ground. Most of the nuts were already out of their husks. M took them to a man who has a machine to crack them, which makes it easy to shell. We got around nine quarts of nuts.

A few years ago, G built a full size baseball diamond with back stop and all. It is behind their house. Across the ball field and through a small coulee is their daughter's home. These are pictures taken there. The first is T and her husband Ro.

Me, B, and niece T.

T's youngest, Ab, with his Grandparents. Ab is a third grader. T and Ro's son Gu.

There was also times for music. One night A was there practicing his piano lesson and G got out his accordion and played along. It ended up later with G on the piano and with B and I singing.

Both of their children and families came for Thanksgiving. It was nice to spend it with them. Their son, R, fixed a wild turkey breast as one of the things that they brought. It was really good. The breast is not as white as a tame turkey. Ro and his son Gu brought their guitars so there was some playing too.


And there were some who listened. And there was lots of time for visiting. Am who is in ninth grade, her mother and R's wife S, and R's daughter Sa who is twelve, the same as Gu. Oh yes, and Cat, who is old and cranky like an old woman.Nephew R with his daughter Am in the background.


R and his girls Sa and Am. Following is his wife S and girls.If you are going to get a picture, you have to have someone get everyone posed and who better than an Er....
Gu, Am, front Sa and Ab.

S and R, Ro and T.

Deeper South

On to Tennessee we went and met B's brother G and his wife M. It is the first time that we have been to their place. They live in the country outside of Fayetteville. Lucky for them, their two children, R and T live close.

It was in the 70's going through Kentucky, and it was about 74 when we got there. Most of the time it is in the 50-60 degree range. Sometimes the cold air swings down from the north and then it gets cold. We had down in the teens a few nights.

We had some experiences that you get to have while living in the country. One morning their daughter T, who is a third grade teacher, was on her way to school and saw an owl alongside of the road. His leg was in a trap. She called her dad and G went and got it. It's leg was broken and all that was holding it on was some tendons. We took it into Huntsville but the vet said that it was about a week old injury and probably already infected. Since bird bone infections are almost impossible to stop he put the bird down. We were really hoping that he could go to some place that has injured birds. Although not full grown he was about 18 inches tall. As you can see, he was a beautiful horned owl.

While we were in Huntsville we went to the Missile Science Center. There are a number of missiles there and also one of the space shuttles.
Space shuttle Pathfinder.

They also have a SR 71, or Black bird plane. It is one sleek plane.
G and M also took us to several places. One day we drove to Sewanee. (Think of the song, "Sewa-nee, how I love ya, how I love ya, my dear old Sewanee.") This is the location of the University of the South. It is located on the Cumberland Plateau. It is an Episcopalian school. We went inside their chapel, which is impressive with stained glass windows and make of local sandstone. This stone is beautiful. Unfortunately, it was in the shade and the pictures don't show off it's real color as it it not this blue. It looks like it has wood grain. Their walk ways are also made of it.

The original chapel was blown up by the Union in "the war of 1860-1865," as the plaque with part of the original corner stone says.

From here we went on to Mt. Raccoon where a huge pumping/electrical station was built in the 1960's. It is by the Tennessee river which has a dam there. Water is pumped from the lake by reversing the turbines. It can be filled in 27 hours. Then in peak demand times, the water is taken from the lake on top of the mountain, down through the turbines, to generate electricity. It can produce electricity for 20 hours. The area also has hiking/biking trails, wild life, fishing and, on the lower lake, boating. This is the Tennessee river taken from up by the pumping station. The trees still had some color but were starting to fade.

We went on into Chattanooga and had dinner. We walked around some of the town and across the Tennessee river on one of the old bridges that only has foot traffic now. We had to settle our dinner.

B, M, and G on our way to eat in Chattanooga.

OPEN WIDE

I remember, that as kids, we would tell our playmates to "open wide." Then we would say, "Mammoth Cave." I always wondered what Mammoth cave was like. I had seen pictures of it and had been through Lewis and Clark Caverns several times. So when we were in the area of Mammoth cave I was glad to have the opportunity to go inside.

I found out that there are several entrances to the cave. There are many miles of cave. Also there are several different tours; some short, some long, some not difficult to very difficult. We picked a two hour one, medium difficult, that talked about the geology of the cave.


Snow formations.
These are other passage ways. There are many of them throughout the cave. Some are large and some are small. Some are used with other tours of the cave.

The above pictures are from just a small part of the cave. Most of it was like the ones below, showing the layers of lime stone and clay. The next one is of the ceiling, showing some formation and then smooth limestone. Most of the ceiling looked like this in the part that we went through.



This shows the limestone roof with one little stalactite.

This is of the clay and limestone layers. At one time this was all ocean bottom. Then is was creek bed and then swamp. Some of the entrances to the cave were found because of sink holes. This whole area has many. Most of the cave is on a plateau.
B and some of the layers that form the walls.


We entered an entrance that had been blasted out by the person that owned the land on which was a sink hole. It ended up joining the part of the cave that another person was taking people through. But that is a story that can be looked up. When we got out we walked to the traditional entrance that was the first one found. It is still used for some tours. The first is looking at the entrance from outside. The next two are from the inside looking out.

However, the cave is not the only thing to see in this area. The whole area is now owned by the government and has trails for running, bike riding, etc. There are also lots of deer and some of the following. They aren't as clear as I would have liked but I had to take them through the truck window.