Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow!

Oh, wait. It already did.

Let the shoveling begin....

December... Ho Ho Ho

It's not even officially winter yet, but you'd never know it by looking out the windows.

There's a ruler in there, and it's not the deepest part... which measured just under 13"

It was/is a beautiful, peaceful snow.

But that doesn't mean everyone has enjoyed it....

November, Where Art Thou?

So much for diligence on more than one blog.

I had high hopes that I'd be alert enough to keep this one up on a weekly basis as opposed to the daily regimen of my other blog.

Ha.

So far, I'm doing good to get a post in on a monthly basis, and it looks like that's in jeopardy, too.

At any rate, things are moving along around here. Football ended for both Randy (high school) and Matthew, who played coach this year at his alma mater. We stuffed ourselves silly yesterday, which was the official Thanksgiving, and today, which was the official Day After Thanksgiving.

And now I need a bigger pair of stretch pants.

In cabin news, it's time to think about Christmas trees, which have been hauled around in the county for what seems like a month already. The tree folks mean business.

Here are some links to Ashe County tree farms, including one we know is fun because Randy and I worked there a few years ago :)

Choose & Cut Christmas Tree Map

Christmas Tree Growers

Kitchens' 194 Choose-and-Cut Christmas Tree Farm

While I'm sure there is no shortage of terrific tree farms, we know Larry and Anita Kitchens personally, both as friends, colleagues (well, okay, they're math whizzes, but Randy coached their son in high school, Larry helped Randy coach high school football when Matthew played, and I took Katie to Anita's Math Camp at ASU a few years ago, which most definitely should count for something). Anita makes sure everyone has a grand time on the farm, and they do!

They also have fine workers.

If you're not close enough for a day trip to find a tree in Ashe County, you're certainly welcome to make a reservation :)

Happy Thanksgiving weekend....

It's Fall... in case you hadn't heard

I think someone's been toying with my clock again. It was just September... and now we're in the second half of October???

Boy.

It's looked like fall for a while. Gorgeous, if a bit nekkid in some spots and a little work in others.

It's felt like fall, too. Mostly perfect... although some seemed to know it was time to head outta Dodge.

(Geese. Real ones. Really.)

Others felt rejuvenated by the fall feel. Emma felt like singing...


and stalking the neighbor cows.



Kali felt like playing ball (oh, wait, she always feels like playing ball)...



and hollerin' about how good she feels, surrounded by sticks and stuff.



Sami feels like bein' on the prowl... as if she ever doesn't.



Randy and I feel like it's probably time to clean the heater, as much as I hate even pondering turning it on in October. Where's that global warming when you need it? Al? Al?

Anyone seen Al?

It's not just leaves falling this weekend. After promised flurries, we've been promised by the weatherman (yeah, I know) that we'll be back in gorgeous fall weather by the middle of the week.

And not a soul will complain, Al or not.

Been on Vacation... Not

I have been MIA in almost all things computer-y, thanks to the unfortunate and unexpected crash of my computer on August 26.

Since then, my brain has been on vacation, if not the rest of me, as I have attempted to get squared away again in the world of technology. To say I've had fun would be overstating it jest a tad, and if you want a sampling of what that means, you can catch up a little here.

Sheesh.

I believe the basic computer stuff is back in business, and I'm hoping that means my brain has come out of hibernation or wherever the heck it's been lately. It hasn't been on the premises.

While I've been 'away,' almost a month has passed, and football has started in earnest for Randy (coach) and Matthew (now a coach, too!). I-N-S-A-N-I-T-Y.

Football - with just a few letters whacked - is fall, though, and it's definitely looking and feeling like fall here. Leaves have been dropping off some trees, changing colors on others, and after a particularly mild summer, the temperatures are... well, you just have to BE here to appreciate them!

Take a break from your own looney bin and head to the cabin!

Emma will welcome you with unbridled energy. Well, okay, she'll sit by the sign on occasion.

Sit in the swing with Sami... if you dare.



If you look at Kali just right ( i.e., at all), she'll let you throw her ball.

We look forward to seeing you!

August Already? Really?

I think someone is pulling a fast one on the calendar. How could it possibly be the 18th of AUGUST already???

That means our daughter Katie turns 20 tomorrow. The end of the teens in the family. It would be a sad day if I had time to think about it. Thank goodness I don't.

All's fine here in the mountains. Randy reports back for teaching duties on top of football tomorrow, which means our summer 'break' has ended officially. Actually, I'm still waiting for it to begin officially. Coming home from practice/scrimmage/meeting at 1am and heading back out at 5-5:30 am doesn't sound like much of a break to me. Party-pooper, I am.

The weather has continued to be impressive for summer! Not too hot, plenty of rain, plenty of opportunities for Kali to learn two new games with her $$$ orange rubber ball -

1) Drop It Down the Hill and Go Get It (and Hope It Doesn't Go Under the New Steps Daddy Just Built), and

2) Drop It in the Pond and Go Get It... After It Magically Floats Out Just Enough to Warrant a SWIM.

With either one, R-E-P-E-A-T is a given.

Ahhhh... summer vacation.

For the hairballs, anyway.

July... 26th?!?!?

One week from today will be the SECOND day of August.

Talk about a fast-forward summer! School here starts in 11 days, so I'm sure there are a lot of big and little happy school folks around here.

Not.

We continue to enjoy summertime temperatures in the low to mid 70s. Low 80s if it's a hot day. Sorry, all you folks with the 100+ temps (really sorry, as we've been there, done that). You should come see us!

Meanwhile, Randy has been using his time wisely during his summer break, which will make full-time football seem like a vacation. Besides replacing the rock work in front of the cabin steps, he finished the steps from the cabin yard as Phase 1 of the trail-from-the-cabin-to-the-pond project. He had a little help from me (little being the key word here) and Kali.

The trail's not finished, but THIS was the biggest 'step' of the project. We think.

As football has been only part-time this summer, the coach went into overdrive with fixing the little spring creek by the pond, continuing to spruce up the new little waterfall/park area,



painting the storeroom, and working on getting the painting finished on the house. As usual, it's considerably more tedious than previously thought, but at least it's stopped looking like the painters skipped town.

Matthew's been home for a week from his summer football coaching duties (courtesy of the head coach's daughter's wedding), and he has entertained us with FOUR movies so far on the TV he bought for his own graduation present. It's like going to the movie theater, but we can look like slobs, start and stop it whenever we want, don't have to deal with sticky floors and grungy seats, and don't have to pay! Well, okay, maybe it's not so much like going to the movie theater, but it's been great fun to actually SEE a movie again! Been a long time.

Katie returns from a packed week with a friend, with whom she visited Boston and New York City. She promises she took lots of pictures!

Randy (there he is again) mowed on the mountain top and came back with a bag of the first harvest of blackberries! Woo-hoo!

Speaking of Randy, he may be taking a nap right now in the recliner.

Now THAT I can join in on....

June, er, July is Bustin' Out All Over!

Here we go again - over a week into another new month, and I still haven't changed my desk calendar. Of course, with everything dumped on top of it, I suppose it doesn't matter.

Our July 4th weekend was greatly enhanced by the weekend visit of both college offspring, Matthew and Katie. We ate at Mom's the evening of the 4th - nothing overly healthy, but with grilled hamburgers and one of Randy's cheesecakes, that apparently didn't matter, either.

Katie, a photography major, humored me as I tried to capture fireworks from our deck, her little balcony, the cabin deck, and a little hill behind the cabin. We could see the fireworks easily from all vantage points, but most of my pictures looked like this:

Every now and then I'd actually be aimed at the fireworks and would luck into something that resembled what we watched:

And sometimes it looked a bit alien:

And like the fireworks, the wildflowers are exploding!

As daisies are one of my very favorites, be thankful there's only one photo of them... at least until I can snag some of the pictures Katie - the real photographer - took.

Meanwhile, the temperatures have been so pleasant lately (LOW/mid 50s at night to mid/upper 70s during the day!), we're wondering what's in store for winter. It's probably best we don't know. Summer ain't over yet, of course, but there are usually only 5 days a year that we'd consider hot. Not H-O-T as in anywhere else in the state or certainly not Texas, our old stomping grounds, but hot to us mountainbilly wimps.

For those of you scheduled to return to Angel Mountain, don't faint if you see that we have finished painting the house! No need to faint just yet, as we haven't finished, but there is finally an expectation of completion before football starts up full-time again. Even the old storeroom (which one wide-eyed - and slightly horrified - cabineer thought was the cabin upon arrival), is getting a makeover from the can!

Shocker, I know.

When we get finished, you can be sure proof will go up... before we move to the next project :)

Summertime, Summertime, Sum-Sum-Summertime

The last day of June is about gone! The days are already getting shorter, and 2009 is half over.

Sheesh.

The date may say it's almost July, but you'd never know it by the weather. After being close to looking around for ark instructions not long ago, the switch was flipped to PERFECT. It's in the low 70s, forecast to ooch into the mid 70s over the weekend, and breezy. Sunny skies with a few clouds. Perfect.

Perfect for working outside, which Randy's been doing a lot during his summer 'break,' his 'break' bein' just summer football practice and tackling (ha) the endless list of projects around here. His true break will come when he returns to the daily grind at school. Granted, he has had some pretty good helpers, so he's gotten a lot done.

Perfect for the wildflowers, which are bursting forth all over.

Perfect for visitors.

And for sleeping? Absolutely perfect.

The Christmas in July folks should be thrilled with Mother Nature's predicted cooperation this Saturday (9am - 8pm), as should Zaloo's Canoes. In fact, we should all be thrilled. And we are!

If you've been pondering a quick trip over the 4th weekend, give us a call! Sami's been polishing up her socializin' skills just for the occasion....

Supervisors, Supervisees, and Whatever Else Keeps the Mountainbilly Mama from Working

Randy, supervised carefully by Emma, replaced the (broken) rock work in front of the cabin steps with brick pavers.

Emma made sure he did a good job. And it does look spiffy!

Meanwhile, Kali was exhausted after a day of playing in the pond and walking up and down the cabin road, supervising Emma supervising Randy.

In another meanwhile, Supervisor Sami was slightly irritated that the big rocks in the cabin parking area were a tad hard for breaktime... which is just about all the time.

Lots of hummingbirds at the cabin and at the big house. Since our big feeder is right outside the kitchen window, it's a wonder the kitchen ever gets cleaned. Oh, wait, maybe that's why it doesn't get cleaned....

Lots of summer bloomin' around here, too!

And the blackberries, which are ALL OVER, are coming right along!

Off to see what Randy's up to now, seein' as how he's outside while all three supervisors are sacked out (on a rather grungy carpet and a rocker).