Managed to weather the rain storm that came through the area last night. Lot's and lots of rain, lightning and thunder all night long. Not sure how much rain fell right here where I am, but it rained pretty good for most of the night. I know just a couple miles south of me they had more than 12 inches in that amount of time. Nowhere near that up here where I am, but I imagine there was a good 3-4 inches, if not more, that came down during the night.

    For me here at the trailer it meant hearing the sound of rain on the trailer roof for most of the night, as well as thunder off in the distance, and sometimes, if I was awake, the flash of lightning through the blinds over the windows. It also meant a couple of cups worth of rain water through the leak around the overhead roof vent. Not enough that my trusty 'upside down hanging umbrella trick' didn't contain it, but enough to know that there is still a problem that needs to be fixed before the whole roof framing starts to rot out on me.

    My problem with water last night though wasn't coming in through the molding around my roof vent. Instead, sometime early this morning, excess water pressure in my water hose hook up caused one of the hoses under the bed to burst and start spewing out a garden hose worth of water every second. What was really unfortunate for me is that there seems to be enough bedding on top of that area that I never heard it running and didn't realize any thing was amiss until one of my neighbors here in the campground came over and asked if I knew about all the water pouring out the bottom of my trailer. Oops!

    Quickly got it shut off and found the leak pretty much immediately. It was in a piece of clear tubing that runs from my water filter over to the distribution line that runs throughout the whole trailer. Lucky for me it was pretty evident, and it was in a spot that was at least somewhat accessible. The line had pretty much 'blown' out one whole side of it. But I was again lucky because it occurred in a spot where I could simply cut it out and connect the new end back up to the old fitting. Took a little bit of time and some rather unique gymnastic type skills to wiggle around under the bed cover. (The whole bed hinges up from the front edge, somewhat like some car trunks or hoods do). The water line connector is nothing more than a little hose clamp, but it was of course put on in such a position that you couldn't really get in there with a screw driver to loosen or tighten it up. Finally had to find my smallest box end wrench to do it all, but it was finally reconnected.

    Of course under the bed is where I store a lot of stuff that doesn't get used very often. Several spare sets of sheets and extra blankets of course, but they are all kept in waterproof boxes, so no real damage to them. There are also 3-4 travel bags of various sizes that get used anytime I need to fly or drive somewhere without the trailer. But they were also pretty protected. What took the brunt of the water was a couple of boxes and sacks of modeling stuff that I had stowed on the bottom level. So I had to pull all of that out of there, mop up any water that was still in there, the floor never looked cleaner, and then dry everything out before putting it all back in. I also set one of my fans in there for a couple of hours just to dry it out a little bit more. The last thing I need is to start growing my own mushrooms under the bed.

    Got it all back together after a couple of hours and finally located my water pressure limiting valve that should of gone on the hose yesterday when I hooked up. It is all back up and running again now, but it took so much time to do, that I really didn't have time left afterwards to go anywhere. Went over to the local Home Depot, just to get out of the trailer for a while, and wandered the aisles there for about an hour. There are so many new products to look at these days that it's hard to keep up on all of it once you don't deal with them on a day to day basis any more. I did however, buy a new roll of fiber reinforced tubing.... just to have in case something like this happens again.

    Tonight is Halloween... but no little Trick or Treaters here in the campground. Kind of miss some of the excitement and joy of the holiday, but never really got into the whole dressing up in costume thing. Certainly liked going to the parties however. Guess I'll just have to wait until this weekend dance for a little bit of that.

   Not sure what I'll do tomorrow now. May try and find a museum of some kind to go check out or I may just hang out around here for the day. Guess it will depend a lot on how 'antsy' I get by mid morning. Sometimes I just have to get out and explore something, even if it's on the spur of the moment. Right now though I think it's time to settle in for a movie.... Chitty Chitty Bang Bang or Rush Hour. Hmmm!



  

   Finally made it into a rest stop late last night. It took longer than usual because of the rain.... and the road construction.... the lack of rest stops in Texas... and the hundred or so big rigs that got there and bedded down for the night before I did. Turns out that I had to circle the same 6 mile section of highway nearly 4 times before finally arriving at a spot where one truck was pulling out of a space at the same time I was coming in. Otherwise everything in the south bound rest area was taken up with wall to wall truckers. Tried to circle around to the north bound rest area by going to the next exit and crossing over the highway. But the highway design down here along the I-35 corridor is just 'caca'. It dumped me on a north bound, one way frontage road that didn't even enter the highway until well north of the rest area. Of course I just thought I must of missed the on ramp the first time around so I went north circled around and jumped back on the south bound side, got off at the rest area.... still no empty spot, continued to the next exit and got off and then found that I hadn't missed the entry ramp at all, because there wasn't one. So back to the north cross over again and then back on south bound I-35. Off at the rest area.... nope, still no empty spot, on to the exit two roads down, about 4 miles south, get off, cross over to the north bound frontage road, back on the entry ramp to north bound I-35, off at that rest area.... nope, no empty spots there either. Actually even more full. Back on the highway south bound and the decision to do one more circle around before going on to Plan 'B', which was to find a Wal-Mart parking lot to stay in. But this time.... when I got off at the south bound rest area for the 4th time a semi was just pulling out of a spot along the entrance road into the rest area. Of course there were no parking signs all along that section of the road, but as there were at least a dozen big rigs shut down along there, I figured I would be okay at least until early morning.... and I was.

   Felt good to finally hit the rack, even though it was still hot and extremely muggy outside. The truck was saying it was still 78 degrees outside when I pulled in, and since it was raining pretty good that put the humidity at 100%. It took a little while to finally fall asleep I'm afraid. The bad news is that the roof vent is still leaking, but the good news is that it wasn't leaking very much this time, and what there was of it, was easily handled by my custom made, upside down umbrella leak catcher. It ain't purty.... but it does seem to work rather well.

    Up early, 6:30 a.m., this morning to another day of grey, foggy skies. Took off and drove for about an hour before finding a McDonald's to pull into for some breakfast and a chance to get on line. Needed to finally pin down somewhere to actually camp for the next 5 nights while I stayed here in the Austin area and went to the dance. The RV campground I had sent a reservation into a couple of days ago had never gotten back to me like they said they would, so first up was giving them a call. They had been having trouble with their computer system I guess, so never managed to get an email back to me but it wasn't good news anyway as they didn't have a single site open for the nights I needed. They did give me the name of another place though, and when I called them, they let me know that they had a site open for tonight and tomorrow night at least, but nothing for the rest of the weekend. Figured I had to stay somewhere tonight anyway so I went ahead and reserved those two nights at least.

    Pulled in here around 3:00 this afternoon and got the trailer all set up and squared away. It's a pretty nice little RV park right along the I-35 corridor in the midst of Austin itself. Haven't checked how far to the dance from here, but it should be a very reasonable drive there and back. Got unpacked and was just getting back on line to try and figure out what to do about a place to stay for the actual nights of the dance, when the front office guy came by and told me that they had a cancellation come in for this weekend and that not only could I stay until Monday morning, but I wouldn't even have to pick up and change site's on Friday morning either. Well you can bet I jumped at the chance to do that, even though the cost here is a little steep compared to some places I've been. It's $44 per night if anyone is interested. Certainly not cheap, but the place is clean, they have a nice pool and bath house, it seems safe and secure and it's still cheaper than a hotel room.

    I've just been hanging out this afternoon and evening reading my book and some magazines I have. It's been raining off and on all that time, but the temperature is still rather high. I do have both my portable fans going right now and all of the windows are open. It might be nice to have air conditioning, but I'll just make do with what I have.

    Got a nice long, hot shower just a little while ago in the bath house just across the road from me. Felt good to wash some of the sweat off and wash the hair. Earlier on I made a big pot of home made soup to eat on for the next couple of meals. Started with some braut style sausage that I browned up with some onions and garlic. Added in some chicken stock, along with chopped broccoli, carrots, a can of red beans and a package of split peas and assorted spices. It turned out rather good actually, and two bowls of that was just right for dinner. Just needed some really crusty sour dough bread to make it complete.

    Outside I can see lightning and hear thunder in the distance. It sounds nice to my ear... I always liked the sound and light show that came with western rain storms. They are talking about flash flood warnings here in the city, but I think there isn't any thing to worry about where the campground is located. It is well up on some hills above all the creeks and rivers in the vicinity.

   Hope to go on down to San Antonio tomorrow and visit the river walk and check out the Alamo. It's been nearly 20 years since I was last there and it would be fun to see it all once again. That will leave me Friday and Saturday days to explore a bit around the Austin area. Haven't really checked out anything to do yet, but will figure something out that will be fun. In the meantime I'm going to go read some more and then go to bed. It's been rather an exhausting day.

   Woke up this morning to a grey and foggy day. Lucky for me it was still the same rest area I had been in when I went to bed, but it was hard to tell with writhes of smoky fog swirling around me as I traipsed over to the bathroom. It only lasted about 15 min's more after I was up. Long enough for me to get something to eat and for the morning sun to burn it all away. Not that there was actually much sun either. More like, just a hint, enough that you sorta knew it was up there somewhere, but not exactly sure where in the sky it actually was.

    It stayed cloudy and grey pretty much the whole day. Kind of cool in the morning, with a few brief rain showers to go along with the clouds, and then later, warming up, but still staying grey. I'm hearing now that there will be a chance of 1"-4" of rain here in the area over the next 12-18 hours, so that should be a good test as to whether or not the roof leak is still a going concern.

    The here in the last statement is somewhere just north of the town of Saldano Texas. I made it past the oddly named towns of Archadelphia, Olohoma and Texarkana and then on through Dallas earlier in the day, so I'm actually only 70 some miles north of Austin right now. My goal for the night is a rest area just south of Saldano where I hope to find a spot to park the rig for the night. I may actually be placing too much faith in that hope, based on the two other rest areas I've stopped at so far in this state. Talk about old, run down and unattractive. But then again, what should one expect from a state that prides itself on not taxing anyone, because hey, you can always stop at McDonald's or Wal-mart if you need to pee..... maybe you'll even buy something while you're there. (Sorry, I'm getting tired, I drank way to much caffeine today and I'm starting to rant again).

    On to Austin tomorrow morning where I hope to find someplace to actually camp for a couple of days. The RV place I contacted and signed up for a reservation at, never actually sent me anything back confirming that. So I maybe scrambling a little bit again tomorrow. It's all good though, and in the end I am sure I'll be able to figure something out no matter what obstacles come up.

    Finished up the last couple of hours of contra dancing just a little while ago. Like most Sunday dances, this one had some of the best dancing of the weekend. Surprised to find that there were still at least 120 people there for most of the session. Usually by Sunday at least half of the group is gone, either driving back home, where ever that is, or too tired to do any more dancing.

    I was pretty tired myself this morning at 9:00 when I finally got up, but nothing was going to keep me from doing the last couple of hours to the music of Elixir. The band was really on this morning and Nils called some really fun dances. I was having so much fun that it wasn't until the last dance was called when I realized that I hadn't even taken a water break during the session. It was beginning to show too, as my brain cells must of been dying by the millions by that point. The good thing is that nearly everyone else was in the same boat, tired, prone to mistakes and still just having a great time.

    It ended all to quickly of course and then it was done. Rather sad packing up the shoes and putting the name button away for the last time. From there it was off to the RV store in order to pick up a couple of things for the trailer. Needed a new window knob for one of the windows up front in the bedroom. The current one had started to turn without moving the window in or out because the plastic threads had been stripped out over the years. Had picked up a new one a while back in Colorado, but hadn't noticed then that I needed one with a 'long' neck on it. So I picked up a new one of those as well as a new hot water heater anode. Haven't replaced that for nearly a year and a half so  it is most likely due for a new one. Certainly better to replace that periodically with a $20 part than to have the actual water heater 'rot' through and need replacing at a cost of more than $600.


   Sitting in a Micky D's right now re-hydrating and eating a bit of late lunch. Need to head back to the trailer now and maybe take a short walk along the lake before it gets to dark. Will try to get a meal or two made up this evening that I can eat on for the next several days. I'll be up way to early tomorrow morning and on the road towards Austin and I don't like to cook much while I'm travelling on the road. Not sure how long it will take me to drive all the way to Austin from here, but I think 2-3 days should pretty much do it if I don't lolly-gag too much. Will try to keep up with posting along the way, but there is likely to be little to write about most of the time. You never know though.

    Not a whole lot new since my last post, but what little bit there was, was awfully fun. Headed over to the dance a bit early last night. Wanted to get there early just in case it was difficult to find. Turns out that it was where it was the last time I attended, I thought it was going to be somewhere new for some reason.

   Arrived in time to meet up with a few friends whom I already knew. Had been a bit worried that there wouldn't be many people I had danced with since it had been two years since I had come to this dance. But my fears were unfounded as there were dozens of people who I already knew and could dance with.

   I had picked up a set of shoe inserts at the store yesterday while grocery shopping so tonight was going to be the Beta Test for wearing them. Turns out that I should have been wearing these things all along as I ended a night of hard dancing still on my feet without even needing to swallow a handful of aspirin. Even this morning my 'dogs' are still feeling okay, a little bit tired and sore, but I could actually get up and walk without hobbling around for 10-15 minutes. Yeah!

   The actual dance was sure a lot of fun. Elixir, the band, was so hot last night. I can't really describe what the music is like because it isn't like any other contra band out there right now. Most of the time it sounds like a really good big band or jazz band because of the trombone, trumpet and clarinet, but then you add in the fiddle and guitar and you have this wonderful mish-mash of styles that doesn't fit any known genre. I managed to dance every dance but one, as I sat out one of the 'squares' in order to get some much needed water. More dancing to do yet today, but I probably won't go over until later this afternoon. Tonight will be a Halloween costume party, but I think I'll stick to my usual black shirt and shorts... it works for me and has now become my costume of choice.

    Below are a few photo's from the last weekend dance trip I was on over in Jonesborough. My friend Rima and I ended up taking a short trip over to the nearby town of Gray to go through their Science/fossil Museum there. Built after a highway realignment project ran across some interesting fossils, it was discovered that they were 4.5 to 7 million years old. They were lucky enough to actually have the highway department realign the highway to miss the site and the result has been this wonderful little museum that is run in conjunction with the East Tennessee State University.

Grays Museum of Science - Oct 2013

A couple of really cool dioramas made up of some of the animals they found. Seems that most of the site was located around a large watering hole. It becomes evident that the climate was much different then as there were alligators and tapirs around at that time.

Another view. In addition to the tapirs and alligator in this scene they also discovered parts of several other unusual animals like shovel nosed elephants, short faced bears, a small rhino and a new type of red panda.

It doesn't seem like there has been much change in alligators in the past 7 million years or so.

 This is a type of Rhino that has been discovered in the sediments around the watering hole.

 At the entrance to the museum was this wonderful little fountain with brick sculptures of some of the animals that have been found in the area.

My friend Rima.... turns out that she is almost as big a geek as I am.

ps   Before I forget yet again.... several days ago, as I was cutting down trees and having to haul them up the hill a little piece at a time, it hit me that even though I wasn't back in Colorado or Nebraska helping my family pack out bits and pieces of deer or elk for a change, it seemed like I was still being used as a pack mule. That feeling was only increased later on as I had to remove dead and drowned squirrels out of the horse's watering trough. Seems like fall will always include some kind of hard physical labor joined with some type of interaction with some kind of dead animal. :)

    Made it into the campground just east of Nashville just before 5:00 p.m. last night. There was no problem with my reservation, much to my relief, so it only took a few moments for them to print out a windshield pass and hand me a map and trash bag. It may have been a while since I had to unhook and set up, but old habits evidently die hard as it only took about 20 min's to be all set up, with the water line attached and the portable heaters working away trying to dispel several weeks worth of cold weather.

   I pretty much just holed up for the night at that point. After more than 7 hours of driving, mostly into the wind, I was a bit worn out physically and emotionally. I heated up some chili and made a cheese quesadilla and drank a beer while reading my book.

    After a good 9 hours of sleep it was back into my regular routine of eating breakfast while checking out the comics, the crossword puzzle, and checking email and face book. Once done with that it was time to head out for some grocery shopping, as the fridge and pantry were starting to look a little bare. Found a local grocery store and picked up enough for about a week or so and then went looking for some lunch. Really had a craving for Chinese food, so I ended up clear on the NE part of Nashville at a local 'Hibachi and Sushi' place. Not bad, and it settled my craving for a while. Also gave me a chance to just sit and decompress a little bit while paging through a couple new magazines.

   Am back at the trailer again now and am getting ready for an evening of dancing. Tonight's dance will showcase the band 'Elixer' with their Big Band/Celtic/Bluegrass/etc. style of music. Looking forward to seeing a few old friends here and maybe even meeting some new ones. One never knows who they will run into at one of these places. Right now though I need to go shave and trim my beard. It, as well as my hair, have been getting kind of long and crazy these last few weeks. At least I can do something about the beard right now, the hair will have to wait for another day or two.

    Packing up the trailer and pulling out of this little piece of heaven today. Headed west to Nashville this morning. With luck I'll be pulling into 'Seven Point's' campground just outside the city this afternoon sometime. I think I have a reservation there since they sent me an email about it several weeks ago when I talked to them. But since then they haven't been answering their phone and I can't find any record of it on my campground account. Oh well! Will just have to wait and see and keep a contingency plan in hand for a back up just in case.

    In the meantime; it's cold here this morning and I'll be glad when the sun is up enough to warm things up. It is suppose to snow here in Virginia tomorrow so I won't be missing that too much. I will be missing the woods, the horses, the food and company. I'll even miss being able to take a long hot shower in a space that is actually big enough to turn around in. So I'll be back here again. Right now the plan is to come through here sometime in mid December on my way to W. Virginia, if not sooner. So thanks to Rima and all of her friends and family that have made my stay here so enjoyable. Will be seeing you all again soon.

      So a few days have gone by since my last post. They have been very full, happy and for the most part sunny days. So much of my time has been spent outside enjoying the wonderful autumn weather. Much of the day has been spent digging rocks out of the pasture, then mowing other parts of the pasture and also cutting and stacking more firewood.

    Lucky for me that in between bouts of hard physical labor have been pleasant interludes of pretty much doing nothing. Saturday was spent cooking up 4 quiche and two batches of zucchini cake for a party Rima had planned for Sunday afternoon and evening. Along with everything else going on that day, Rima had several of her kids show up for the night, so it was fun to sit around and talk to them while we were busy scurrying around the kitchen. They seemed to have an inordinate amount of interest in my zucchini cake, so when they all went out on the town it seemed prudent to just leave a loaf of it out on the counter for them when they got home.

   When Sunday finally rolled around the loaf of zucchini cake was gone as if a plague of locust had swooped in and attacked it. Actually it was rather gratifying to know that it tasted good enough to provoke that kind of reaction from some younger folk. It was also painfully obvious that more food needed to be prepared for Sunday, not only for the party but also for the family who were staying here.

   I got busy and made up a couple more quiche and another batch of zucchini bread as well as a big pot of my Chicken Tangine. It was a lot of fun to cook again and it was a lot of fun to have someone  along side helping out. By 4:00 in the afternoon everything that could be done was in place and people were starting to show up. By the time it was over more than 50 people had come and gone, tons of food and drink had been consumed and we were all exhausted. It was lot's of fun though and I think Rima had a very pleasant birthday.

    Since then the kids have mostly gone and routine has finally gotten back to normal. Mowed some more pasture on Monday and cut firewood  yesterday. Still not enough to last her through the winter, but at least it's a good start. Will continue on with that quest a little bit today as the sky is starting to clear up from the rain that came into the area last night. I'm afraid that I am fast running out of time though. Tomorrow I will be packing up the trailer and head back out on the road again. Headed for Nashville first and then on to Austin after that. Really looking forward to being back out there again... but a big part of me will also be thinking about what I am leaving here. In the meantime; here are a few photo's from a trip over to Natural Bridge and Caverns a few weeks ago.

 

 

Natural Bridge and Caverns in Virginia - Oct 2013

At 215 feet high, 40 feet thick and 100 feet wide with a 90 foot span between sides, this is one of the highest natural spans in the world. It even has a highway running over it. U. S. Route 11.

It seems beyond me that such a small stream could cut such a magnificent monument. But then if you have about 500 million years in order to do it, even a little bit of water can do amazing things.  

Rima enjoying the walk up the creek beyond the bridge.

A happy moment.

A nice walk way along the creek.

The end of the path ends at a beautiful little waterfall.

One last look at the bridge. Turns out that Thomas Jefferson once owned the land here at Natural Bridge. It is also neat that George Washington surveyed this plot of ground when he was young and carved his initials into the wall of the bridge. So it seems that even the 'father' of our country was not opposed to writing a little graffiti at times. We discovered that the company that owns Natural Bridge and all the other attractions may be going out of business and that they are trying to interest the State or Feds in buying it and turn it into a park. I hope something can be done to save it, but it is hard to see either agency coming up with the money needed.

Also associated with Natural Bridge is the deepest cavern in the east. Having been discovered several decades ago and open to the public for many of those years, there isn't much left in the way of spectacular formations. Still,  there are a few left and if all goes well there will be even more in about a million years or two.

Another view. 

The largest formation in the cave 'Goliath'. This piece of flowstone is more than a million years old.

At about a 1/2 an inch every 10,000 years, this little stalagmite is only about 80,000 years old.

More formations.

I liked this little bit of flowstone.

Part of the Natural Bridge complex includes a butterfly room. This is just one of the many in there that day.

Another one of the many butterflies.

A different one.

One last specimen.

   Been pretty busy these last two days. Lot's of stuff to get done and not all that much time left to get it done in. Since it was raining on Thursday I spent a few hours driving to Christensburg in search of a battery for the riding mower. Found one there in the Home Depot that looked like it would work, but it wasn't an exact replacement so I was a bit hesitant about it. Still... what the heck, I went ahead and picked it up. Lucky for me I spotted a NAPA automotive store on the way back out of town. The guy at the counter there was able to find the exact replacement for me.... and it was even cheaper so that was a plus. Of course it meant going back to Home Depot again to return the other one. I did keep the other odds and ends I bought, so they still did okay for themselves.

     Once back at the 'ranch' I pulled the battery out to take a look and found it was a ''assemble' your own kind, who knew they even made such a thing, but by that I mean they give you this separate little bottle of battery acid that you have to  put into the battery cells and then..... well then, you have to put it on a charger and charge it up before you can use it. Did Rima have a charger handy... well of course not. So sitting there trying to figure out what to do I happened to look over at the trailer where my batteries sit and realized that it had it's own charger and controller built in. So I grabbed my jumper cables and hooked on to one of my trailer batteries and then hooked it up to the new battery and hoped for the best. In the meantime I headed out to cut down more trees.

     Cut down about a dozen trees that night and managed to drop only one of them on a fence, so it was a pretty good evening. Once Rima got home she took over and with me holding up the cut trees, we managed to cut and stack about a third of a cord of wood into her woodshed. Not bad for only an hour.


   Of course it was dark by then so it was finally time to quit and go get something to eat. We just had time to clean up and head into Natasha's for dinner. Fried chicken, mashed taters and gravy and greens for me. As always; it was delicious.

    So the battery charger actually worked believe it or not. By yesterday it was all charged up and time to install it and see if the mower was even going to turn over. After a couple false starts due to not having something turned on correctly or adjusted just right, it cranked right over. Better than that though, every thing actually worked on it to some degree or other. The blades worked, even though they're duller than dirt... literally! The transmission will shift from forward to neutral to reverse, even though it takes more time than you can believe. And the brakes.... well lets just say that the easiest way to stop is to put it into low speed and aim for the nearest tree trunk. It works, but it's not pretty. With all of that I took off mowing about two acres of pasture that really should of been mowed and baled. It took me several hours and two rounds before I got most of it cut down to a manageable height. It looks a lot better, and now there will room for people to park during the party on Sunday night.

    I met up with Rima at 5:30 and we headed over to Odd Fellows to meet up with some of her friends for happy hour. They had a special beer on tap for happy hour and it was just what I needed after several hours out in the sun. We talked for an hour or so and then wandered around the streets of Floyd for another hour or two. It was Friday so everyone was in town playing music and strolling around. We finally ended up at the Mexican restaurant for some food. I'm starting to figure out a few meals that are worth eating there. The fajitas are fine, as are the soft taco's. Most of the standards, burritos, tacos and enchiladas though, are pretty mediocre. Mostly it is a problem with no 'fire'. Even the salsa is more like chopped up tomatoes and not much else. No heat and no green chili. It is still better than no Mexican food at all I guess. It's not El Tejado though.

    A quiet night at home afterwards. It's going to be a busy day today though. Food to cook, more mowing to do, some more tree trimming and some more chain sawing. Guess I ought to get busy on it. In the mean time, here are some photo's from a week or so ago. I went and had lunch with a friend who lives nearby. After lunch she offered to show me the house that she and her husband had designed and built on their own. It is truly a magnificent structure. Kind of a new age hobbit house.

Jean's wooden house - Oct 2013
  

My friend Jean and her husband created this masterpiece in wood. Not only did they cut and mill most of the wood that went into the structure and finish, they also put it all together.

Built in the form of a spiral it reminds me of an ancient ammonites or a modern day nautilus. Each of these trusses or joists, whichever you prefer since they work as either, has 5 separate joints. So as the spiral became smaller in both height and width, each had to be adjusted accordingly while still keeping everything lined up as needed. Quite a task.... but one they did very well.

Another view of the ceiling. All of them end at a center point within the central stone chimney. It creates quite an effect.

You may be noticing that some of the wood boards between the trusses appear to be different colors and textures. You would not be wrong, nor is it a mistake... they planned their house to be a showcase of wood, so there are some 200+ ( Is that correct Jean?), different species of wood in it.



The living room opens out on this huge deck that overlooks the Little River valley far below the top of the hill the house sits on.

The kitchen is another marvel in wood. Notice also all of the little wooden odds and ends sitting around on shelves and counters. Many are items crafted by Jean, and her husband Lloyd, while others are gifts from friends.

Another view of the kitchen with the den/office in back.

Outside on the front deck looking at the front window wall and how the roof line of the house spirals down from a high point to a lower one.

Looking up at the front of the window wall and the front of the deck.

I like how the house nestles down among the trees at the top of the hill.

A final view of the house shows how the roof line spirals down around the central chimney. One of the most interesting and beautiful homes I've ever been in.

     Spent most of the afternoon yesterday working on an 'old' riding mower that had thrown a belt. Turns out that to put a new belt on it, so that the actual lawn mower blades turn, means taking about half of it apart to get at some of the parts. Dropped the whole mower assembly, removed all the connecting pins to the tranny, speed control and mower height settings, before actually getting access to the pulley's that turn the blades.

    Did finally manage to get the belt onto those two pulleys, but now had to reassemble it all in order to hook up the final drive pulley. Easier said than done of course. Took about an hour and two of us working together to finally get it all hoisted back into place and all the cotter pins and washers back on where they belong. Once it was all back together, it was time to hook the jumper cables up to the battery and give it a try.... It actually started right up, except that it was really loud with lots of shaking and sparks coming out from under the front end. Turned out that the front of the mower blade cage was hitting the front power pulley and causing all kinds of mayhem. So we regrouped, got that problem straightened out and then tried it all over again and.... of course it would never start again.

   Finally gave it up after more than 30 mins of trying different things, that basically had to do with how the jumper cables were connected. Instead, since we had about an hour of light left we both grabbed a regular mower and started cutting. I've been working on a part of the pasture that will be used as a parking area this Sunday when Rima has her annual Fall Party. So about an acre or so of grass that is at least 16 inches tall. My little suburban lawn mower really likes that stuff. It's going to be a long, hard slog if we don't get the riding mower running today. I'm off in a little while in search of a new battery, as it seems that may be the real problem here. Will just have to try it and see.

   In the mean time; here are some photo's from a trip we took to N. Carolina for a dance weekend about 3 weeks ago. We went for a hike over at Hanging Rock State Park on Saturday and these pictures are from that day. Believe it or not, I'm actually starting to catch up on some of my photo's. I may be fully caught up by Thanksgiving. Until then have a great day and enjoy!

Hanging Rock State Park, North Carolina - Oct 2013

The start of the hike and in the distance you can see the goal for the days hike.

There may be more truth to this sign than I first thought.

Loved this little outcropping of very old limestone.

Nearly at the top and the end of a long hike up.

The view to the north from the top of Hanging Rock. In the distance somewhere out there is Virginia.
 



Looking west towards another outcropping. The trees were just starting to change when we were there.

Another view to the NW. (at least I think that is the direction).

Looking down at the tree canopy below.

Looking more or less south.

A last look at part of the Hanging Rock outcropping.

    Finished up the day yesterday by trimming more trees and cutting a few more down. Still lots of trees out there to be dealt with, but right now getting the riding mower up and running again may be a bit more important. Checked it out last night and besides needing the main belt replaced it might be nice to fix the transmission enough that it actually stops when you step on the brakes. Being able to go into reverse would be nice also, but we may be going too far with that wish.

    Made a big pot of Chicken Tangine last night for dinner. The original recipe called it Lamb Tangine, but I had to change the name when I found that it didn't actually contain any lamb. Still, it is one of my favorite dishes to fix and eat, fairly cheap to put together and really tasty. I posted to actual recipe several months ago and I am sure you could find it again if you wanted.

    So today looks to be very nice weather wise. I would really like to get the rear door of my truck fixed up today as it has been broken since sometime back in June. Already have the part ready to go and guess I could do it outside as long as it isn't raining. Beyond that though, I think the afternoon will be filled with more outside work.

    The weather finally cleared off enough yesterday afternoon for me to make it outside for a while. Took a little time to break the ladder out one more time and take another look at the trailer roof. My skylight leak has finally gone down to just a trickle, but it was still leaking, so one more look couldn't hurt. Went over the remaining unpatched and caulked section and found some very small cracks right along the edge on one side. Had seen them before and just assumed that they didn't go all the way through the EPDM fabric that is what they used to cover the roof at the factory. But this time I just figured, Why Not, and stuck another piece of bituminum fabric tape over that area also. Only time, and another rain storm, will tell if I guessed correctly this time.

    Once done with that chore, it was on to trimming trees right here around the house at Rima's place. Lot's of dead limbs, and dead trees close by, so I spent several hours cutting off what I could and hauling it off to the forest. Also marked a whole bunch of trees around here that are either dead or damaged enough that they need to come down. Since she is in need of firewood anyway it seems like a win-win kind of situation as long as we can get to them in time. As it is, my time here is fast approaching it's end. But I'll be back at some point soon, of that I am sure.

    Rima got home around 5ish and we headed in to Christiansburg for a house concert at some friends of hers. Prior to that though we dropped off a pair of her dancing shoes to a guy she knows there that does shoe repair and makes orthodic inserts. I only listened to them talk for 10 minutes or so but it soon became apparent that this man was a genius as far as shoe's, feet and shoe repair are concerned. If I wanted something special done to a shoe or had a foot problem, this would be the man to see.... and cheap too!

    We had a very quick dinner after that at a local Indian Restaurant there in Christiansburg. I had a lamb Biranyi and Rima some type of chicken curry with rice. Yum! Had enough to bring home for dinner tonight... but it's to late, I already ate it for lunch.

    The house concert was at a dance friends house who has his own little space above the garage for this kind of thing. Tonight it was two women from, I think they said, New Hampshire and Connecticut, who had spent a year at a music school in Sweden last year. They sang and played about 20 tunes last night on their fiddle's and nyckelharpa. I'm not really sure what makes a tune 'Swedish' or 'Finnish' or what ever, but it was real apparent when you heard them play it. Even without it being a recognizable 'Hambo', you could still tell that it was a tune from the far north latitudes. A very entertaining evening where we got to sit and listen in this really intimate little space less than 10 feet from the players. A glass of wine in hand, a little chocolate and a chance to talk to the performers, all for $10..... how can that be bad!!!!!

    Looks like another beautiful day today. I have some  pictures to down load and look at yet this morning and then I need to get outside and enjoy the day a little bit. I think it will be more wood cutting and mowing to do today... maybe a little cooking later on.

    Back to Floyd late last night after 3 days and nights of some of the best contra dancing I've ever done. It would of been hard to not have a great time... the line-up of bands and callers could hardly have been better. Starting out Friday night with Toss the Possum for a little pre dance waltzing and then on to the Hot Point String Band with Beth Malaro calling before continuing until nearly midnight with the Great Bear Trio and Diane Silver.

    But I'm a bit ahead of the story as it actually started on Friday afternoon when I picked up Rima at her office and we headed out for the road. A couple of hours saw us safely in Jonesborough checking into out Bed and Breakfast, the Eureka Inn, for the weekend. A very nice little place right along the old main street in old town, it was close enough to actually walk to and from the dance. For us, since we had the special Contra Dance discount, we actually had a Bed and 'no' Breakfast place but it really wasn't a big deal for us as we spent only a few hours sleeping there every night. Otherwise we were out and about dancing or exploring other fun things around the area.

    After getting a few hours of sleep on Friday night we were up and about on Saturday morning. Probably to early for me, but I managed to stumble around well enough until I had a little caffeine inside of me. We had a really quick breakfast while checking out local brochures for fun things to do around the Jonesborough area. We decided finally to take a short road trip north to the town of Gray where we found a prehistoric fossil site on the campus of Eastern Tennessee University. Originally discovered when expansion of I-26 was in progress, the then Governor, actually sprang for the additional 8 million dollars needed to move the right-of-way about a 1/4 mile to the east when fossils of alligators and other rare animals were discovered. In the end what they found was an old sink hole created about 800,00 to 1.2 million years ago where animals of that wet and warm period fell in and were trapped by the ooze. In addition to alligators, which don't live in Tennessee anymore of course, they found nearly complete skeletons of Rhino's, shovel nosed elephants, short faced bears and a really rare Asian style badger and Red Panda. A nice little museum with lots of interactive displays and dead animal bones to look at and read about.

    After wandering and reading for more than an hour we headed into Johnson City for some late lunch at a small Thai place we found. It left enough time afterwards for us to go out to 'Serenity Knoll', a local dancer's dream home with his own outdoor dance floor and concert venue. What a beautiful place David  has created for his self and all of his friends. Hot Point was providing the music and the dancing was pretty hot. We only had time for a few dances, but it was enough to whet our appetite for the upcoming evening. For me of course it also meant taking some time out to check out the dance floor and building that Dave had erected. Built out of pretty massive posts and beams with open wood trusses above, the dance floor itself is made of Ipia, (sp), pronounced E-pay, a really dense tropical hardwood similar to teak, but now being produced in sustainable quantities.

    Hot and crazy dancing for nearly 4 more hours that night. I actually had to sit out a couple of dances because my feet were hurting a bit. I really need to check out getting something new in the dance shoe department. I have danced my whole life with no more than an old pair of tennis shoe. I never had a problem with twisted ankles or knees for some reason, and I'm very thankful for that. But I think it is time to check out adding some padding to my shoes or even buying some better tennis shoes to dance in. Something like a good walking tennis shoe maybe. I'll start checking out ideas before the next dance.

     Many people went on out to a local house after the dance and partied until dawn. I'm getting old I guess and just headed back to the Inn for a couple hours of sleep. Up around 9:00 and checked out before heading out to a local breakfast cafe for some breakfast. Eggs and sausage and a couple of pancakes were enough to get me back in gear for an additional couple of hours of dancing.

   Hot Point did the first morning session and like usual, the Sunday session was really fast and furious. Had such a great time dancing with all my friends for one last time before the next dance. A short break for Rima and I as we ran to Mc D's for sustenance before going back for another hour and a half of dancing to Great Bear Trio. By the end of the session I was pretty much all done in... just enough umph for one last waltz with my sweetie. It was such a wonderful dance weekend for both of us.

    Ended up taking a couple young dancers back to Blacksburg with us last night as they needed a ride back to the University. We made a short stop in the town of Bristol to have dinner with one of Rima's kids and his wife.  A very nice meal at the local Olive Garden. It was nice to have some substantial food inside again, though I think the 'carbo loading' would of been better if we had done it before the dance.

    So a late night for us again, but today is kind of cloudy and rainy again so I'm just holing up inside right now checking up on all the stuff I've neglected for the past week. Need to get back on the ball now though. I see the sun is trying to peek through the clouds now so it's time to get outside and do something productive.

    Spent most of the day yesterday dealing with paperwork that has been neglected for far to long. Got caught up on my bill paying and other banking as well as taking care of other corrospondance that needed to be dealt with.

   Took time off to head into Floyd for lunch with my friend. A nice hour or so eating some good food while watching the rain come down outside. I'm still really surprised at how many good eateries there are in a town the size of Floyd. Most towns of 500 might have a small café or two, but we ate at 'Good Fellows' yesterday and had some pretty awesome food.

    Spent most of yesterday afternoon moving firewood from one place in the wood shed to another. Had to get all of the old, dry stuff out front where it could be used up first before it rotted in place. Also needed a place to put some of the new stuff in until it could dry out and be usable. Along the way I had to stack a bunch of pine scraps that were just tossed on the dirt floor and re-stack a bunch of small branches that are used for kindling.

     Last night was a quiet evening for me. Had time to put together and bake one of my zucchini cakes. The cake turned out okay, but the brand new bundt pan I had bought just a day or so ago, like all bundt pans I have ever used, made the cake stick to it even after buttering and flouring the whole inside. It still came out tasting fine though, even if it did fall apart when I took it out. Tasted good with a little hot tea both last night and this morning for breakfast.

    Still cloudy this morning, but not really raining today. Doing some laundry right now and getting ready to pack up and get ready to head off to Tennessee later this afternoon. The 'Mountain Madness dance weekend starts up around 6:30 this evening and will go to nearly midnight tonight, not counting after dancing parties, and then through all of tomorrow and most of Sunday. A wonderful line up of talented musicians and callers, plus a chance to see friends I haven't seen and danced with for way to many months. I'm not taking the computer with me.... so my lackadaisical posting will be even more sporadic for a couple of days. Now, off to finish up laundry.

 

kg

    So yesterday was a pretty relaxing day for me. A long leisurely breakfast followed by time to check email and facebook an write a little bit. Did managed to get outside around noon though and get some work done. Spent about an hour dealing with the rear roof vent mechanism in the trailer. The crank mechanism had slipped off of it's track a couple weeks ago and I finally got around to taking it all apart, fabricating a new part and then putting it all back together again. While it was still usable without the piece, it had this annoying habit of blowing completely open at the worst times... like when it was raining. Hopefully that problem has been fixed for at least a little while now.

    Also spent another hour or so on top of the trailer trying yet again to find the elusive leak that is allowing water to seep in and drip onto my bed. I really didn't see anything to make me think I missed anything the last time I was up there, but I went ahead and caulked everything in sight anyway.  I'll go ahead and keep the umbrella up for the time being and monitor the situation before figuring out what to do next.

    Once done with those jobs it was on to finishing up some tree branch clean-up on a tree I cut down a couple of days ago. Still need to cut the rest of the trunk up, but most of the branches are now cleaned up and disposed of. While finishing up with the rest of the tree branches Rima called to see if I wanted to meet her over in the town of Riner for dinner at the 'Buffalo and More' cafe. Of course that was fine with me... I still wanted to try out the buffalo quesadia my friend had last week when we had lunch together. A few minutes to put things away and hop in the truck and then 20 minutes to the restaurant. The meal was even better than I expected. I would highly recommend that restaurant and that meal to anyone.

   The rest of the evening was spent walking along the Little River and grocery shopping in town. Had to help put together a macaroni salad for a pot luck Rima was going to today. Hope it turned out for her.

Colonial Williamsburg Virginia - Sept 2013

The Public Armory. I like how it was built in the shape of an octagon. Not sure there was any real reason for this, but sometimes you just do something because you can.

Inside the entrance door to the armory. I assume that most of this level was used to store powder in.... never thought to ask about that. The 2nd floor was left for storage of weapons.

Some of the rifles, pikes and swords stored in the armory. Surprisingly, all of them work and most are still used in day to day demonstrations. There are a very few that are actually from the site and date of the original town. They are on display but are no longer used.

The interior spiral staircase from the 1st floor to the 2nd and then on to the 3rd. A very interesting room if you are into looking at old weaponry.

One of the small cottages being used as the cobbler's place of business.  

 

The interior view of the cobbler's shop. There was a guy here dressed in appropriate dress and 'in character'. It was really fun to stand there as he was busy making a shoe, a women's dancing shoe, while talking about how everyone during his day would of walked everywhere and how good shoes were made to last and could actually be repaired if needed because you couldn't simply go down to a Big Box Store and buy a new pair anytime you wanted. Oh... he also looked and sounded a lot like George Cloony.



A view of the cobbler's shop from across the fence at the blacksmith's shop.



Day #1 at the blacksmith shop and one of the staff is busy making hinges while another one was busy making nails.

Day two and another blacksmith was making some kitchen utensils for one of the shops on site.

I just thought this was a pleasing view. It was even better with the couple of horse's that were in the pasture.... but alas, that picture didn't turn out very well.




On to the Wheelwright's shop. Just in time to watch as they got ready to heat up and mount the steel tread. One thing I was surprised about was the use of rectangular mortise and tenon's to attach the spokes to the rim. I always thought they were round tenon's. But it makes sense to use square one's; less chance for the spokes to twist out and easier to put a wedge into the end of the spoke.



Was waiting to take a tour of the Wythe House when these two youngsters walked by. They were all it took to complete the scene.

The back yard of the Wythe house complete with chicken house and yard right next door. Mr. Wythe, I forget his first name, was a well known lawyer in the area who helped set up the collage of William and Mary. He was also a personal friend of Thomas Jefferson and his family. He was one of the first instructors of a young Tom and actually held classes in the house here at Williamsburg. It was rather thrilling to think that I was actually sitting on the window seat that Thomas Jefferson once sat on. ( I am such a geek!).

A last view of two young ladies walking down the garden path.

One display area was set up as a military encampment with period tents and paraphernalia. I was surprised to find that 6 guys were bunked in each of these tents.



Several young patriots showed up ready to enlist and found a willing Sargent at Arms to sign them up and outfit them. It was quite fun to watch them as they all stood up a little taller and straighter and shouldered their wooden muskets.

Another nice pastoral view.