Happy Anniversary To Us!

  I had this written yesterday when we celebrated our 34th anniversary but things transpired that kept me from getting to the 'post" button so here it is a day late! (I thought about putting our wedding picture on here but we've been married SOOOOO long that everything we have is actually on FILM and not digital!

Feast Or Famine....aka Flood or Drought

     If there's one thing I've learned since moving into the hills of Tennessee its to NOT take water for granted!  When we lived with city water my only concern was paying the bill.  I never worried IF we would HAVE water....we simply turned the faucet on and WHOOSH....water came out. (Imagine that!)  After 20 years of living out in the middle of nowhere on spring water, I have to say I've lost more sleep over water than absolutely anything else.  In the winter I have to worry about it freezing and in the summer I have to worry about it running dry and in the spring I have to worry about the lines getting plugged when we have too much rain.  All in all I can NOT worry about water about 6 or 7 days of the year....give or take a day or so.  I can assure you that you have never lived until you have spent days hauling water from the spring through the snow to the house just so you can flush and have water to cook and wash with.  I can also assure you that your missing TONS of fun spending hours outside in the freezing weather with a teakettle of boiling water trying to thaw out several hundred yards of frozen line.  Oh....and lets not forget about watching the water flow diminish to a steady trickle in the summer and fall and wondering if it will ever rain again.  Yes sir!....I have learned to never take water for granted....EVER!  Water has probably been the most common prayer request and topic of intersession we've had out here.  Recently we had already been experiencing the water "slowdown" since we had not had rain for weeks.  We had started hauling water in buckets from the creek to keep the garden and roses alive which is something we don't usually have to deal with till late summer and early fall.  In town where I work (which is 35 miles away) rain had been so frequent that the prediction of more brought curses and oaths from the people (aka city slickers) but when I would check with Susie there was no rain to be seen out here.  Well.....all that changed yesterday when it started raining ......and wouldn't stop!  We were awakened this morning with rain dripping on our bed through our roof...which is NOT a good way to start the day!  All told so far, I think we have had somewhere around 3"-4" with some more predicted.  Susie and I took two walks today just to survey the damage.  We have a number of trees down which will just give us a head start on next winters firewood but for the most part, even though the creek was up, it only went over the road in one area and even that was not bad enough to make the road impassable.  I actually have to give the road crew kudos in the fact that they have already resurfaced the road at the washout sight and have already re-paved and dozed the debris out of the way.  So...having said that....."Lord willing and the creek don't rise (again!)...we will be able to get out of the hollar in the morning for church.


PS....The above picture was taken at the middle falls at Burgess Falls State Park and NOT at our farm....as much as I wish it was! (If this was at the farm do you really think I would have a reason to stress out over water?)

Preview Showing Just For Cynde!

     Our nephew Benjamin and his wife Erin gave birth to their son Simeon several weeks ago...a month early.   Being a preemie, this gave Susie a chance to knit her first preemie socks.   As you can see from the photos, they are rather small...especially compared to a full sized adult pair.  They knit up really fast....I mean how could they NOT since they only use about a quarter of an ounce of yarn!   These were mailed to them today so we are waiting for a "report" about how they fit and how hard they are to get on a foot this small.

Another Bamboo View

      Here is another view of the same Giant Bamboo plants from the last post.  The top picture was taken on Thursday and at that time the plants were not quite 3 foot tall.  The bottom shot is the SAME two plants taken today before Susie measured the front ones diameter and its over 7 foot tall today....or more than doubled in height in only 3 days.  I think that's pretty impressive! (Sure wish our cotton and vegetables grew that fast)
                                                                       

Getting Bigger Every Year

     A number of years ago (too many to remember) we planted a pot of Giant Bamboo and one of Black Bamboo.  Over the following years we watched these plants grow very very slowly and never saw them do much in the way of spreading.  The folks at the nursery told us "Just wait! When they take off they REALLY take off!".  Several years ago they finally managed to spread over the entire area we planted them in and I actually had to cut a number of them down since they were by then in the power lines.  Imagine our surprise this spring when we went to the back side of the area near the creek and found THESE monsters breaking through the ground.  This is one of this years Giant Bamboo plants and as you can tell from the picture, its a big one!  We measured the circumference and it was slightly over 9.75 INCHES and well over 7 feet tall ....and it's only been out of the ground for a couple weeks!  I can't imagine how big these are going to get if the weather continues the way it has.

Mathematical Equation

     Take one home invasion and add 72 hours, plus another attempted robbery, multiply by the sheriffs officers suggestions equals ONE BIG BUTT LOCKED GATE!

The Dry Land Fish Are Running In Tennessee!

            After dealing with lots of errands in town today and getting groceries for the first time in several weeks, we decided to go for a short walk and check the end of our water line.  Every time we have a substantial amount of rain, we have to be concerned with rocks, gravel, and other debris either diminishing the amount of flow through our water line or at times even blocking it completely!  After checking and cleaning what little was on the end, we decided to go down in the creek and     transplant some of the spearmint that grows wild up to the house.  While walking down the creek we decided to also pick a big bouquet of wild phlox and that's when we spotted the illustrious dry land fish that folks around here fight over!  While the amount we found will not feed an army, it will most definitely be an added bonus with the next baked potato!  (Thanks Cynde for catching my misspelled word!) Several years ago we found some up the "holler" that measured more than 14 INCHES tall!  (If I can find the pictured we took of them, I will post them!)  I have been accused of Photoshopping the pictures of the monster mushrooms but I can assure you....I don't have the ability or the knowledge to Photoshop ANYTHING!