Baby It's Cold Outside!

We started the new year with snow and colder temperatures. It was 11 when I got up this morning. The birds were in a feeding frenzy all day yesterday. I shot two rolls of film and hopefully got a couple of good shots to put on the blog. Not only were they eating the seeds and suet that I put out for them, they were also eating the cat's food out of his dish. The blue jays and one titmouse kept flying down on the porch to carry away morsels of cat food. We had jays, cardinals, chickadees, titmice, wrens, downies, red bellies, and doves. I think I managed to get a pix of each. I had a new visitor, a white throated sparrow. I haven't seen them in quite a while. One of the cardinals had something wrong with one of his legs and was hopping around on one foot the whole time.

The road up here in the holler is a sheet of ice. School has been called off in the county for the rest of the week. The cat's water froze into a solid block of ice three times yesterday. Last night, when dear husband drove me to the post office, I noticed foot long icicles hanging from the roof.

I think I am getting too old for cold weather. For several years, our winters have been much milder and I have forgotten what it is like to be cold. I hate it. It hurts my skin and makes my bones ache. The snow is beautiful, but it is too cold to go outside and play. Our high today will be 25. Today would be a good day to cook a kettle of soup beans or make some chili. I usually make more oven meals in the winter to help heat the house.

When I was a teenager, all the kids at church used to meet at a couple's house up on the hill and go sledding on Big Mack truck inner tubes. They are huge inner tubes that up to four people can ride on at one time. It was a very steep hill with a couple of drop offs. We would ride down the hill, across the lane and if we were going fast enough down into a neighbor's driveway. My first night on the hill, I was afraid to ride. I just stood around the fire and watched, until one of the guys picked me up and sent me down the hill alone backwards. I went down the hill, over both drop offs, into the lane and hit the neighbor's mailbox, knocking it down! Thankfully, I wasn't hurt and couldn't wait to get back up the hill to go again. We played until late at night, going down the hill, standing around the fire talking and drinking hot chocolate. It is one of my favorite winter memories.

A New Year

2007 is gone and I survived. That is the first thing that popped into my head when I thought about blogging about the upcoming new year. We as a family survived another year of dealing with Type 1 diabetes. Youngest dear son had good reports at all of his doctor's visits this year. Dear husband made it through another year of working in the coal mines without an accident or injury. I praise God for that. Oldest dear son finished up his next to last semester of college with good grades. He will graduate this May and I am happy to say that we did not have to go into debt to pay for his education. He was blessed to receive two scholarships and he worked out most of the rest.

In 2007 I lost a total of 28 pounds which was a major accomplishment for me. I still have a few more pounds to go. We are now trying to eat healthier as a family so I am hoping that my good eating habits have rubbed off on my guys. I still need to work on getting more exercise.

On New Year's eve, we all stayed up, or got back up, and toasted in the new year with a bottle of cheap champagne. We do not drink and the last time we had a drink was in 2000 when we bought our first bottle of cheap champagne to ring in the new year. Blek. We rode with dear husband to the wet part of town this year and he bought the most expensive bottle he could find which was...............twelve whole dollars and seventy-five cents. Blek. Either cheap champagne is really bad or we just do not like champagne. Either way, it was fun and we all laughed as we sipped our champagne out of punch cups that belonged to dear husband's mom. Youngest dear son was not allowed the pleasure, so he sipped on Diet Rite Cola. It was fine with him. We hugged and kissed and shouted Happy New Year. We watched Dick Clark on ABC. Then we went to bed.

So today is a new day of a new year. A brand new start. A fresh start. We pulled out the books this morning and started our second semester of homeschooling. Youngest dear son prayed a magnificent prayer and we sang This Is The Day That The Lord Hath Made. Then I read the second chapter of Proverbs which turned out to be very appropriate for the start of a new semester.

I made a few resolutions...more like a continuation of the ones I made last year. I would love to eliminate all sugar and white stuff from my diet. I have already cut down a lot in 2007. I need to exercise more and tone. I also would like to have a quiet time each day. A real quiet time, not just after everybody goes to bed. I am too tired to think by that time and I can't really function early in the morning to plan it then. I need a quiet time during the day when my brain will cooperate. Just some time set aside for thought and not worry. Constructive thought. A time that I could plan goals and meditate on my blessings. I have never been able to do this. Maybe this will be the year it does. I'll let you know. It hasn't happened so far today.

My Favorite Shots From The Trip

I now know this is the barn that was used in the El Pano scenes in the TV series Christy.




Cades Cove at dusk.

Meeting Birds Eye

I am a true daughter of Appalachia. Born and raised in the mountains of southeast Kentucky like my mother and grandmother before me. It is no wonder then, that I fell in love with the book, Christy, by Catherine Marshall. It is my heritage. My mother and grandmother lived as the characters in the pages of her book lived. Poor, but proud. Uneducated, but extremely intelligent. Leary of the outside world, but always willing to help a neighbor.

I have read the book many times. I have loaned several copies, only to have them not be returned. My first copy was a birthday present from my oldest dear son who was in the 6th grade at the time. I have been to the real Cutter Gap in Tennessee. The real Fairlight's grandson still lives there. I have visited the Museum of Appalachia where one of the episodes of the television series was filmed. I bought a couple of props that were used on the set...an old art book with leaves pressed in the pages and a small wooden bowl.



Mike Hickman as Birds Eye Taylor

During our trip to Townsend, I had the pleasure of meeting Mike Hickman. Hickman played Birds Eye Taylor in the TV series. He works at the motel where we were staying. You could not meet a nicer man. He told us that he had recently had a stroke and that it had affected his speech. It was barely noticeable. I learned that years ago, he had done volunteer work at a mission in our county. We talked for a few minutes and then he said he wanted to give me something, even though I hadn't asked. He walked over to a filing cabinet and took out an 8x10 pix and autographed it for me. He told me he had finished filming a new movie, The Lena Baker Story which should be out in 2008. We talked a few more minutes and thanked him for his time.




Hand drawn map


As we were leaving, he asked if we had been to the old TV set where Christy was filmed. We told him that we hadn't. He took out a piece of paper and drew us a map to the set! To have played the bad guy in the series, you would not believe what a sweet soul Mike Hickman really is. He told us he wasn't "near as mean" as Birds Eye. We thanked him again and left to go to our room, somewhat stunned at how nice he was.

The next morning, we left the motel just after daylight to go look for "Cutter Gap". The fog was so thick we couldn't see anything. We stopped and talked to a little old man who had walked down his driveway to get his morning paper. He told us that we were driving right by it, but that the fog was so thick you couldn't see anything. I was disappointed, but glad to know that we were in the right place. We will try again another trip. The Smokies have always been such a special place to me. Now I have another reason for loving them.

How I Spent My Christmas Vacation

One of the cool things about homeschooling is that you can make up your own schedule. We live in a state that requires 180 school days a year. I break this down into four 9 week quarters and plan breaks around each quarter. Each year we put the books away for Thanksgiving and don't start back until after the first of the new year. This gives me lots of time for shopping, baking, wrapping gifts, and visiting with family and friends.

This year I had the pleasure of meeting one of my dear friends in Townsend, a little town on the peaceful side of the Smokies. Karen and her family were on vacation in the Smokies and invited us to come and visit them. Dear husband had some days off, so we went down on Friday and spent the night. Here are some pix of our trip.

Fighting Creek

Cataract Falls

Deer grazing in the cove

Church at dusk in the cove

Merry Christmas!

Just a quick note to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas. Things have been very busy here! I promise to write more as soon as possible. It may be after the first of the year.

Here are a few pix to brighten up my empty blog until my return.

Norris Lake: Drought Conditions

Dear husband and oldest dear son fished on Norris Lake back in November. These pix showing the condition of the lake were taken by dear son.

Normally, the water would be all the way up to the tree line.

The rocky bank is now exposed in this pix. Water is usually covering this bank.

Not much water at all in this pix. The water usually covers this area from treeline to treeline opposite the lake. There are several spots inaccessible on the lake now. The launching ramp that we usually use is so far out of the water now that it is closed. The last I heard, we were 15 inches behind in annual rainfall.

Butterflies

First To Leaf Out; Last To Fall

We have two Bradford Pear trees in our front yard. They are the first trees in this area to leaf out in the spring and they are the last trees to lose their leaves in the fall. Sometimes, it will even snow before we are able to rake leaves. They have beautiful white blossoms in the spring that seem to glow in the sunlight. In the fall, they can turn red, yellow, orange, and almost black or dark cherry color.

Caramel Bars And Cookies

1 stick margarine
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup self-rising flour
2 eggs
2 cups brown sugar (yes, really this much)
1 cup chopped pecans

Melt margarine in an 8" x10" pan.
Mix all other ingredients together in a mixing bowl.
Add melted butter from pan.
Stir and pour back into pan.
Bake 30 minutes at 350.
Cool and cut into squares.
Dust with powdered sugar.

*Fairlight's Notes*
I don't have an 8x10 pan so I used a disposable 8x8 and it worked just fine.
I melted my margarine in a glass mearuring cup in the microwave.
I have only made these once and we loved them!
The next time I make them, I am going to add one teaspoon of cinnamon and I am going to wait overnight before I try to cut them into squares. They were still kind of gooey when I tried to cut them after 2 hours. They set completely overnight.

These are so rich, but they are light like lemon squares. I also like them because I have most of the ingredients on hand all the time.


Christmas Cookies
I picked up a copy of Ladies' Home Journal yesterday to read about the McCaughey Septuplets turning 10 and I found some really clever Christmas cookies. My favorites are the Peanut Butter Rudolph Reindeers and the Dulce de Leche Chocolate Bars. You can make two variations of the chocolate bars. My favorite is this beautiful red, white, and green swirl pattern using melted white chocolate and red and green food coloring. Very beautiful and unusual. I could not find a link to the recipe or pix, but be sure to check out the Rudolph cookies. They are adorable.
Merry Christmas!

Random Ramblings

Keeping Christ In Christmas Cards
Dear husband and I went Christmas shopping yesterday and I realized I hadn't bought any Christmas cards. I love to send out cards, but I am finding it harder and harder each year to find cards with a nativity scene or even a religious message. I am amazed at what you can find on the front of a Christmas card. Now I love a good tractor as much as anyone, but I don't want one on the front of my Christmas card. Nor do I want a picture of Santa fishing out of a big fine bass boat. I'm not anti-Santa and I have nothing against fishing...I just don't want them on my Christmas cards. I finally found, after looking through the whole selection, a box of religious themed cards on the very top shelf. I must remember to look for cards earlier next year.

I Didn't Know That!
Our county has a time capsule. I had no idea. We went to our local Christmas parade on Saturday and we stayed behind to walk through town and take pix of the courthouse and some of the older buildings. Our courthouse was burned during the Civil War. I walked around looking at the memorials and monuments and right there in front of the statue of the Dough boy was the lid to a time capsule. It will be opened in 2076. I doubt I will be around for the opening. ;-)

On a side note, for as long as I can remember there have been benches on the lawn in front of the courthouse. These benches are the gathering place for men, many of them quite elderly, who like to whittle. I do hope you know what whittling is. They sit and talk and whittle in the sun. Years ago, I had a great uncle who lived to be quite old. He loved children and loved to hand out silver dollars. He was a staple around the courthouse for years until he died.

Do We Really Need...?
Have you noticed that we now have several kinds of Charmin and Dawn? Do we really need seven types of Dawn? This is not counting different scents or the Dawn Power Dissolver and the Dawn Power Dish Brush. If you count scents, there are 16 different types of Dawn. I remember when there was just one. It was fine. I still use it.

Charmin! Leave the Charmin alone. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Now there are three kinds of Charmin...Charmin Soft, Charmin Strong, and Charmin Basic. *Sigh* Really. Can't we have soft and strong? Why do we have to pick between the two? We miss the plain old Charmin and didn't have any complaints when they decided to start making three different types. At first, I bought up all the regular Charmin I could find. Then, when I couldn't find anymore, I went with strong. It was too thick and dear husband didn't like it at all. I switched to Soft and it was too soft. Finally, I went with Basic. I bet you thought I was going to say it was just right! Well, it's not, but it is our favorite of the three and it happens to be the cheapest. Watch and see. They will stop making it and I will have to start all over.

My Find
Dear husband and I do not buy for each other for Christmas, but this caught my eye and I would really like to have one. It is a turntable that not only plays records but has a cable to hook to your computer so you can burn your old albums to CDs. I love albums. Even the scratchy, staticy ones. I have some old Bonnie Raitt albums that I love and haven't been able to listen to since our old turntable gave up the ghost. These are albums that she made before she was famous. It would be nice to record all our old music to CDs, but I would still like to be able to listen to the original recordings. Dear husband was much more careful in the way he took care of his albums before we married and most of his are still in great condition.

I guess that's it for now. I will close by saying Merry Christmas and sharing a quote from one of my new Christmas cards. I love it.

Jesus is the gift that perfectly fits the size of every heart.

Azalea Bush Leaves In Fall

Random Ramblings

Made In America, Or Is It?

Dear husband had to buy a new pair of work boots this weekend. He bought a pair of Red Wings that had this tag attached:

He was pleased to find a pair that were made in the U.S.A. He bought them and brought them home only to find a label inside the boot that said "Made in China". He was not one bit pleased. This really should be against the law.

Another Photography Contest

Yes, I, the one who said she would never enter another photography contest, did. Forgive me for lying. I had no intentions of entering, but dear husband asked me if I would enter another local contest. This one was much bigger and scarier than the one I entered earlier. I took second place on this pix in the Flowers category:

Opossum
We saw the opossum last night. We were pulling in the driveway and the headlights caught him scurrying along the creek bank. He hasn't been back to the bird feeder since dear husband moved the wire he was using to climb up onto the roof. He looked fat and sassy, so I am pretty sure he has found another food source. That's good.

Elk
I saw my first elk in the wild this week! Well...he wasn't really in the wild; he was on the side of the road and several cars had stopped to watch and take pix. What makes this especially interesting is that elk were introduced into this area in 1997 and I am just now seeing my first one. It only took me 10 years. I hope to get pix soon.

Random Ramblings

Snow Birds and Snow
Wednesday night we had a thunderstorm with lightning and strong winds. It was very warm and we even ran our ceiling fans. I heard the heat kick on around 7:30 that morning and by noon it was snowing!

The Friday before, I had watched a Dark-eyed Junco on the pump house roof. The minute I saw the bird, I knew we would be getting snow. We have been bird watching for years, and I have never seen a Junco without seeing snow. I know that sounds hard to believe, but it is true. They always bring snow. We only see them in winter. I think this one paid us an early visit.

Putting The Books Away

Today is our last day of school until January. We have already finished our first semester and it feels good to have it behind us. When we first started homeschooling, we followed the county school's schedule. Then, after a couple of years I decided to make out a schedule that would fit our needs better and prevent burnout. It is the single greatest decision I have made in making our homeschool experience a success.

Now, we start the week after the Fourth. It is so hot and buggy here that we are inside during the hottest part of the day anyway. We take a week long fall break. We go nine more weeks and then put the books away for Thanksgiving and don't start back until after the first of the year. This gives me the whole month of December to shop, decorate, bake, wrap gifts and really enjoy it. I am not in a rush because we have set aside this time to be with family and friends. Any school we would do during this time would just be rushed and half-done. We still get out around the second week of May. We also take off all days that dear husband is off from work. Below is a sample of our schedule. I color code each quarter and leave blank all days off. This is the easiest way I have found to keep up with my schedule with just a glance. Here's a sample of my School Calendar:

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Brownies From A Box

I have never been able to make brownies from a box. They always end up hard as a brick on the edges and soft or even raw in the middle. I was looking for a little something sweet to put in dear husband's dinner bucket this week and picked up a box of brownies. Guess how they turned out?.........Perfect! They are delicious and the texture is perfect. Fudgy from one end of the pan to the other. They were Duncan Hines brand and I think they were called Chocolate Chunk. I followed the directions for "cake-like" brownies, but they are very fudgy and "brownie-like". I baked them in an 8x8 disposable pan. Just had to share this in case there is another person out there who is brownie challenged like me. :-)

I guess that's it for now. Toodles.

But Only God Can Make A Tree

Sweet Potato! Mighty King Of The .....Yard!

Poems Are Made By Fools Like Me...

Color

Mr. Personality! OR No Animals Were Harmed During The Writing Of This Blog Entry

This is our new cat, Sweet Potato. Sweet Potato was a stray that took up at our doorstep. He was in very bad shape the first time we saw him. He had been attacked by another cat or dog with a large gash on his back and front leg. I doctored him back to health and he has been here ever since.

Before Sweet Potato, we had a miniature schnauzer, named Ginger that we had raised since she was a puppy. She lived to be 15 years old and when she died I vowed I would NEVER have another pet. Never say never. When this poor cat took up at our house, I couldn't turn him away. He was in such bad shape. Every morning I thought I would wake up to find him dead and every morning he would be waiting for me at the back door.

All of his wounds are healed up now and he is starting to act like a real cat. He is learning to hunt and he loves to play with falling leaves. He is still so gentle. He never nips or scratches. He loves to be held and petted. He also loves to sneak in the house. Dear husband cannot make it in the back door without letting him in and it has turned into such a funny situation. When you scold the cat or try to make him go back out he will instantly flop over on his side like he has been shot. Especially when dear husband scolds him. I usually just pick him up and carry him back out, but dear husband tries to make him go back out and it is so funny. Everyone knows you can't make a cat do anything. So there is dear husband trying to make the cat mind and there is the cat sprawled out in the floor playing dead.

Here are some pix of the cat asleep in the yard. He loves to sleep on his back! I know these are not very good pix, but I wanted to share them anyway. They make me smile every time I look at them. He is not any easy animal to photograph. He is either asleep or crawling all over you, so I was happy to have taken these. I will keep at it, though. I would like to have at least one good pix of him.

Photography Contest: Winners and Losers

Scenery: 1st Place
Fog on Laurel Lake



Flowers: 1st Place
Dandelion



Flowers: 3rd Place
Iris Bud



Open: 1st Place
Spider Web



Open: 2nd Place
Dew on Leaf



Animals: 3rd Place
Pufferfish at Aquarium


The Losers

Cumberland Gap

Tickseed

Butterfly

Iris

Clinch Mountain Sunset

I finally entered a photography contest! You all can't call me a big sissy chicken girl any more. The contest is held every year at our local Swappin' Meetin' and is sponsored by a local newspaper. This was my first contest and I entered as an amateur. I used black mattes on all eleven pix.