It's raining!..... again.... or perhaps that should be 'still'. It started on Monday afternoon while I was outside working. Managed to get one fence post set and, since it was a corner post, the brace rail as well. Not an easy task as it was over in the area we worked at clearing out this last Saturday, so there were plenty of tree roots to cut through and the actual corner post is a 8" dia. black walnut tree that happened to be in exactly the right place. So it took a little longer to get everything up and cross braced and hooked in. But it was all done in the end and it looks like it will work out fine. The worst case will be if the tree grows to large, to fast, or dies, but either one can be handled as needed.
   The worst problem was that it started raining that afternoon and really hasn't stopped since then. I did however use the time inside, and the fact that it was cold again, to put a big pork roast in the oven. It, along with some skillet browned potatoes and roasted brussel sprouts with slivered almonds and a honey glaze, came out hot and perfect, just in time for dinner with Rima. Later on Monday night the thunder and lightning were spectacular, with at least one blast that touched down somewhere in the near vicinity of the house. It's probably a good thing that it was rainy and wet out there but the storm still managed to blow the power out for at least a little bit of time over night.
    It rained pretty much all day yesterday too. I tried to go outside for a little while in the afternoon, but even though I was out for about an hour it was just too wet and dreary to do much of anything. I spent most of the day watching news shows on the computer, reading the comics and doing crossword puzzles. It wasn't a very exciting day.
    Today is gearing up to be more of the same, though right now the rain has slowed down some and it is almost sunny outside. I'm looking out the kitchen window and watching two ground hogs sitting side by side on an old stump. They look like two old people sitting on a bench in the park still in love and still holding hands. Seems like my idea of capturing the 'one' I thought we had and transporting it far, far away isn't going to happen any time soon. I'm guessing that we will soon see little feet pattering all over the place and then I'll need to worry about how to get rid of a dozen of the pests, instead of just one. :)
    In the mean time; I think I'll finish up here, get some shoes on and head outside to see what is going on out in the great big world.


*

Wow! It's been a crazy couple of days here in the east. Lot's of stuff going on since the weekend started last Friday. Most of Friday was pretty routine in that I spent some time outside cleaning up trees and moving wood that I had already cut down. Rima worked until a little after 5:00 when I picked her up and we headed out for some dinner. We ended up at Micky G's, a local Italian restaurant here in Floyd, and had a wonderful dinner together.
   We were in a bit of a hurry unfortunately because we had tickets to a performance of the Roanoke Opera Company over at the Jacksonville Center for the Arts later in the evening. The performance was just a serious of vignettes of a couple of operas rather than a full single opera performance, but it was fun to see and hear what the Roanoke Company could do. They had several short performances from Operas written by Mozart and Handel during the first half of the show. It's funny how even though they are singing in Italian, it is still pretty easy to understand what is going on in the story. The second half was comprised of a short performance of Gilbert and Sullivan's first Opera, 'Trial by Jury', one I had never seen before. A rather raucous performance of a man accused of  cruel indifference for leaving his girlfriend at the alter. What followed was a wonderful comedic performance with some really satiric lyrics sung in the usual G & S style. It was great.
    Rima and I  worked hard for most of Saturday. She had some jobs to do around the house while I spent the day out by the driveway entrance clearing out brush and trees along the old fence line. The idea is to eventually replace the fence there that has fallen into sad repair. By the time the day was over there was a new stack of tree trunks to cut into firewood later on, as well as a brush pile taller than me. We hope to be able to burn it all down sometime next spring when it has had time to dry out and compact down.
   We were both pretty tired after that so it was back into town again for dinner as we were both too tired to think about actually making anything to eat. So it was back to Mick G's for another wonderful meal. Rima had one of the specials that night, a whole fish baked with onions and olives in a little olive oil while I had a 'Steak Gorgonzola', steak with a blue cheese dressing, some onions and olives. What a nice meal!
    We headed for Roanoke yesterday afternoon. Rima had tickets to the Symphony again and we went down to have a listen. Two selections this time around. The first half was Schubert's Symphony No. 8 in B minor, also known as his 'Unfinished Symphony''. A lovely piece, which didn't sound unfinished at all to me. Then after the intermission they did Brahms Symphony No. 1 in C minor, Op. 68. Done in 5 parts it was really fun to watch and hear the orchestra performing. It is also quite fun to watch the conductor, David Wiley, as he goes about his business of conducting each piece of music. He is very expressive in his approach.
    We went and had Mexican food at a little place we know of in downtown Roanoke. Good food and at least a dozen salsa's that you can pick from. There was also at least 4 glasses of ice cold tea to go with it, so I was a happy camper for sure.
   I'm hoping to get some much needed work on the truck done later on today. Just stuff that I have been putting off for far too long, but it is time to be getting it done now. That is... if it doesn't start raining before I get out there.


* 

   Went and did some much needed grocery shopping yesterday afternoon. A bit of this and a bit of that, seems like most of what I got was routine food that I eat often. Did get a bunch of fresh fruit and veggies, along with cheese and some chicken. It was a whole bunch of stuff, and we should be set for a couple of weeks or so.
     Once done unloading and putting everything away, I had a little time to finish moving the rest of the pile of wood from the trees I cut down over to the main pile to be cut up. There is now quite a pile for us to cut up and split and stack once the wood shed is finished being rebuilt. Hope to start that job sometime early next week, once my new nail gun arrives, and I go out and buy the first load of lumber.
    Today started out sunny but is now turning grey and colder. Looks like rain. Would like to go out and start clearing out the area near the road and the driveway where the corner of a new fence will start. Will need to cut out a lot of brush and quite a few other trees also. More fire wood it seems.
    For this evening though we have a quick stop at the Tapas Bar in Floyd this evening before going on to dinner and then an evening with the Roanoke Symphony and Opera Company doing a performance of Gilbert and Sullivan songs out at the Jackson Center. Should be fun.

    It seems as though spring may have finally arrived here in upper Virginia. Yesterday was in the high 60's with just a little bit of a rain shower in the late afternoon. I have been spending my time cleaning out the wood shed outside of Rima's house lately. It has rotted out to the extent that the back wall and roof have actually started to fall down. Starting the day before yesterday I shifted all of the wood that was still usable into the basement where it could stay dry and be used up as needed. I then proceeded to wheel out one wheel barrow full of old bark, sticks and twigs and dirt, after another. It all went out onto an already large pile of limbs that I had cleaned up from the trees around the house, all 22 wheel barrows full. It is now nearly empty, only a little more dirt to haul out, and I'll soon be able to start removing the sheathing off of the back wall.
   I spent an hour yesterday researching a new nail gun that I wanted to buy. I have several of them back in Colorado, along with hoses and air compressor and fittings of course, but they aren't doing me any good sitting back there in storage. So I went on line to check out this new 'Dewalt' nail gun that I had heard of. It is all battery powered instead of needing an air compressor and hose. So much easier to use and in the long run, maybe even cheaper. Although the initial cost is still steeper than one would like. Anyway, long story short.... I ordered one up and it should be here in a couple of days. So I just need to finish up with my deconstruction and then go and get some wood, nails and assorted fittings.
    Met up with Rima later on last night and we went out to dinner at a friend of hers house. Got to finally meet Marla and her husband John, and had a real nice dinner of homemade beans and ham, with grilled cheese and turkey sandwiches. There was wine and beer and moonshine to drink, so it was a raucous good time.
   Going to meet up with Rima for lunch today and then come back and work around the place a little bit. The dryer repair guy is suppose to show up this afternoon at some point. I sure hope so as I'm down to the last couple of pairs of socks and shorts. Time to get started.


 

   Had a very nice, but busy, Easter yesterday. Started early by getting up and helping to put a big pork roast into the oven as it was going to take at least 6 hours to cook it all the way through. Rima had actually gotten up even earlier to put it in, but we ended up changing the pan she had started out with, just to make it easier to baste with it's juices later on.
    The day before, Saturday, one of her sons and his wife had shown up late in the evening and planned to stay through mid afternoon with us. One of her daughters had also shown up on Friday, and with one other son, his wife and one of Rima's grand kids, Brynn, it was a pretty full house. We made it through breakfast first off, and then had a little time to relax. Everyone else went out for a short walk in the sun that day, while I hung around checking email and getting a start on dinner preparation.
    By 12:30 - 1:00 we were all sitting down to a pretty scrumptious meal.... if I do say so myself. The pork roast came out juicy and pretty much falling apart. Rima made her wonderful homemade peach chutney sauce to accompany it, and with mashed potatoes and gravy and hot cornbread it was a pretty good meal. Top it all off with a zucchini birthday cake for the two brothers and it was even better. Lots of fun just sitting around the table talking to everyone and watching the baby with her priceless little smile. Life is just good sometimes.
    Cleaned everything up and then everyone, but Jennifer headed for home. The remaining three of us took a short little walk right at dusk and then settled in for some 'Big Bang Theory' watching on DVD. All in all.... a very nice day.
   Beautiful here today. Finally warm enough that I am actually in shorts again. We all went out to lunch one last time before Jennifer leaves, just because we could, and because there really isn't much food left in the house right now. Micky G's was our choice for food, and it was a good one. I went with one of their basic calzones along with several glasses of ice tea to accompany it. Good choice!
    Headed outside right after this gets posted. Not sure what I'm going to do yet, but it doesn't really matter. It's nice, it's sunny and it's warm, pretty hard to beat that combination.


*

   Not a bad day yesterday, could of been warmer, but at least it wasn't snowing or raining. It was cool enough that I spent most of the morning inside the house though. Just goofed off, read the comics, did the crossword puzzle, etc.
   Once it got warm enough however, it was time to go outside and get to work. There were still branches left over from the trees I cut down the day before and about 6 loads took care of that problem before it was on to another project that needed to be done. Got one of the lawn mowers started up and mowed the little area where all the trees had been standing. Also got one of the weed whackers started up and started trimming around the fence, but it soon ran out of line and I couldn't figure out how to open it up to add on some more.
    Finally; there were some more branches to trim off some of the tree limbs still hanging out on the trees right around the house. Still plenty of those yet to do, but at least I got the ones that had broken off in the last wind storm to come down.
    Rima and I also moved the horses up to the north pasture yesterday afternoon. They have been grazing the lower pasture all winter and, while nice and green, they had nibbled it down to the bare soil in spots. They were really happy to get out of there and onto some ground where the grass was several inches long. In fact we had a hard time pushing them on up into the upper pasture once they hit the better grass right outside their gate. But they finally ran up there and it was really cool to see their great brown bodies running over the emerald green grass. Just like in a fairy tale.
    One of Rima's daughters drove in from her place in DC last night so we met up with her in Floyd and had a real nice dinner at Micky G's. Rima and I both had one of the specials, a grilled pork chop from a locally raised heritage pig. All sautéed with mushrooms and onions in a light balsamic sauce. It was really yummy. The only real problem was the 5-6 glasses of ice tea I had during dinner, I must of been really dehydrated from the day, but the caffeine then kept me up until nearly 1:30 reading in bed.
    Just waiting for a jar of honey to boil down and melt all the sugar crystals right now, and then I'm going to head on outside. It's still grey out there, but it looks like it might be warm enough to get some things done. We might go for a hike later on if we feel like it, but to tell you the truth, I'd be happy just staying put and relaxing. Instead; here are a few photo's from a hike Rima and I did nearly a month ago. Sorry for the delay, but I've been busy.

Hiking to Cascade Falls in Virginia - Mar 9, 2014 

A set of stone steps up through the trees above Stone Creek on the way to Cascade Falls.

Stone, or Stony Creek, I'm not sure which. A beautiful little creek that looked just right for fishing. Alas; I didn't see a single fish even though I looked for them every chance I had.  

A nice little waterfall.

It was cold that day. Still a long way away from spring at that point.

 

More rapids.

 

A nice sunny space, just right for a photo.



 

Another photo of Rima.

Still cold enough for icicles.

First view of Cascade Falls.

A shot from head on.

A really nice waterfall.

 

One last photo of some more of the icicles along the side of the gorge where small springs come out of the rocks.

*

    Turned out to be a pretty decent day yesterday. It started out pretty darn cold in the morning, but by noon it was near to 60 degrees and it seemed that it was going to be at least that warm for most of the afternoon. After my normal morning of breakfast, comic reading, crossword puzzle doing etc., I finished getting dressed and headed outside.
    I had started cutting down a bunch of trees out near Rima's barn and shed complex last week, and had managed to get well along in downing the 10 trees within this little wooden fenced enclosure. Now it was time to get the rest of the trees and tree parts down on the ground and cut up. All without landing one of them on either the fence or on any of the surrounding buildings if possible. It actually worked out pretty well. In the end I had one tree trunk bounce and bump into the barn without any damage, and I miscalculated the height of one and dropped the top of it onto the top rail of the fence. Managed to bust the top two rails of one section, but only minor damage that should be able to be fixed with some of the old, used spare wood stored in one of the buildings.
    About 6 and a half hours of work had all but one tree trunk on the ground, all the limbs cut off and carted away, and nearly all of the remaining wood stacked into a big pile that will get transported down to the house and cut up for firewood once I can get the wood shed rebuilt. All in all a very good day, but it meant being pretty tired and sore for the rest of the night.
    Looks like another great day outside right now and I'll be out in just a little while after I am done with this. Still a couple more trees outside the barn to cut down and a part of one remaining tree trunk to take care of. Will need to sharpen the chainsaw one more time before starting in, but that is becoming pretty routine.
     Posted below right now though are a couple pictures from last weekend. While hiking out to the tip of Folly Beach we ran across this little guy wiggling across the road. Could tell immediately that it wasn't an actual snake, just because it didn't move like one. It also didn't look like one once you were close up. Anyway, it was pretty cool and I took a few pictures while I could.

Legless Lizard at Folly Beach SC - Apr 12, 2014

While looking a lot like a snake you can just tell it isn't one. Instead it is known as a legless lizard. For some reason evolution went backwards for them. From a regular lizard with 4 legs it evolved to shed them, most likely to take advantage of some niche environment where limbs were a handicap. They still have vestigial limb bones inside their body, and I hear that you can sometimes see little bumps where they are if you turn them over. I didn't do that. 

You really get a sense of how different from a snake this thing is in this photo. The coloring is also really beautiful.

*

    It is raining again. Seems as though Spring is taking a slight vacation after the weather had turned off nice and warm and sunny over the weekend. The rain started in late last night and is suppose to last through the rest of today before it turns off cold this evening and drops down below freezing once again.
    But I am getting ahead of myself as there were a couple of days that I wanted to catch up on. Starting on Friday morning we headed out on the road with the ultimate destination being Charleston SC and the start of the Palmetto Bug Stomp contra dance weekend. But before we got on our way, we first had to go to Roanoke for a couple of hours. Rima had some work to do down there before she could get on the road, so it was after noon before we could finally get on the highway south.
   It seemed like more hours in the truck than it really was, but we did finally make it into Charleston and checked into the hotel. By the time we got over to the dance venue, the dance had started. Fortunately it had not been going on for long and we were both soon as hot and sweaty as anyone else out there on the dance floor. The Syncopaths were the main band for the weekend and calling duty fell to Cathy Anderson and Keith Eustice. Pretty fun time all in all. Saw lots of people there that I had not seen in some time. There was a whole contingent that came up from Florida, and it was good to see all of them again after several months. We were pretty tired after a couple of hours of dancing though so we headed back to the hotel a little early, grabbed a shower and caught some zzzzz's.
    We were both up way earlier than needed, but we were headed out to the beach that morning, and we wanted to get there in time to actually find a place to park. We drove out to the very end of the road on Folly Beach and found a nice parking spot and then walked another half mile or so out to the very northern tip of the beach. There were a few people out there of course, but much fewer than the hoards of people back closer to town. For me one of the highlights was an old lighthouse I hadn't even heard of before. The first Morris Island Lighthouse was built in 1767 and was eventually destroyed in the Civil War. The current lighthouse was built in 1874 and was actually built on the mainland part of the island. Over the years erosion has washed away all of the land around the lighthouse as well as the keepers house and all other buildings so that now the lighthouse stands on a small bit of sand off shore about 200 yards. Photo's of the lighthouse and additional info are posted below.
   Rima and I had a good time wandering the beach and taking pictures of the lighthouse. She also had a more personnel reason for going out and walking the beach, and I think it was a nice morning for her to be out there with her own thoughts and feelings. We spent several hours there basking in the sun and looking for sea shells before getting hungry and heading off to find something to eat.
   From Folly Beach we went north to North Charleston to a little hole-in-the-wall Vietnamese place where we both ordered noodle bowls (Bun'), for lunch. Tasted good, and filled us up, but we both had some lower intestinal problems later on. Nothing that a few hours of time and complete digestion didn't take care of though. Rima wanted to dance some of the afternoon dances then while I just wanted to go take a nap. So I dropped her off at the dance and then headed for the hotel. Ended up stopping at a local Wally World though, because I wanted to buy some rope for a project I have on my list to do this next week and I didn't want to have to drive all the way into town to buy it if I could get it right then and there. Of course one can never buy just what you need, so there was also a pair of gloves, a high lift jack and the newest novel from Lee Child to go in the basket with my hundred feet of new rope. That was a big mistake on the book though as once back at the hotel, I cracked that open and all thoughts of a nap were long forgotten. Oh well!
   Back to pick her up later on and then out for some dinner with a couple of friends of ours that live there in town. We all went out to a cute little Mexican food place they knew of and had a nice little meal with them. They then showed us some of the sights around that part of town before heading back for the start of the evening dance.
    A little more fun than the night before, but part of the fun was ruined because of a few of the local committee people who were making a big deal about everyone having to wear their weekend bands on their wrists instead of just pinning it to your name badge like some people like to do. These 'wrist' bands are handed out along with your name badge to show that you have signed up and paid for the whole weekend instead of just paying for a single dance night. It's a common enough occurrence in the dance community and in the past I, and many others, have simply pinned the ribbon to our name badge so as to not have to wear it on my wrist for the next 60 hours or so, including to bed and into the shower. But for some reason they were being real pains about it this time with several people telling me that I needed to put it on my wrist instead. I just told them that I wasn't going too, that I didn't wear anything on my wrists while I danced, and I certainly wasn't going to wear it for the next 2 and a half days, at which point they usually just walked away in a huff. But the whole thing left a rather sour taste in my mouth and I fully think that if they had pushed the issue I would of refused and asked for my money back. But luckily, no one pushed, and I and at least 20-30 other people just kept wearing it on our badge, or in some cases, not at all. Maybe a bit petty on my part, but I have a hard time with 'stupid', and made it pretty clear in the survey that they email to everyone after the dance that it seemed to be an issue with many people including myself. Will wait to see if it becomes a problem next year.... oh wait, next year I'll be in England at a dance during this time. Yeah!.
    Anyway; with all of that, and other things going on, both of us decided that the Saturday evening dance wasn't all that great anyway, so we just headed back to the hotel and got a good nights sleep.
    We were back at the dance on Sunday however, and that session was the best one as far as I'm concerned. The music seemed to be hotter, the calling better and the dancers ready to dance hard. That being said, I danced about half of the morning session and then called it quits and headed outside to read some more of my book in the shade. It was actually just what I needed it seems. A very compelling book and a warm and sunny day to be outside in. Rima danced most of the session and then we both called it quits and headed out. A quick bit to eat in a local Irish Pub just down the street from the dance venue and then onto the highway for home. It didn't seem to take nearly as long to make it home as it did to drive down, but it is still a 6-7 hour drive no matter how you cut it. We were back home just as the sun was going down so it was still nice out and somewhat warm even if it wasn't quite as nice as it had been in Charleston.
   I just goofed off yesterday. Hadn't meant to spend all day reading my book and a couple magazines, but that is pretty much what happened. I did get outside late in the afternoon for a couple of hours, but the only thing I really did was put my new high lift jack together and then use it to jack a couple of old fence posts out of the ground. Certainly a lot easier to do it that way than to try and dig them out one by one.
   I did manage to make a nice evening meal for both Rima and I, even though it wasn't clear if she would make it home in time for dinner. But she did and we had a good time eating  part of a small pork roast I had made as well as mashed potatoes and gravy and roasted brussel sprouts and carrots with slivered almonds and honey. It tasted very good, although the roast was a bit too salty, all my fault. We ate it all up though and then spent an hour or so watching a couple of Big Bang Theory episodes. It was a nice day.
    Still raining outside right now, so it has been pretty much all day. I'm getting ready to head out in a little while to meet up with Rima. We are taking one of her sons and his family out to dinner for his birthday. Should be a fun time as it will be a new restaurant for both of us, plus they will have Rima's granddaughter along with them, Brynn. She's the one I posted photo's of earlier this year blowing bubbles with Rima. But for now though, here are the photos from Folly Beach.

Morris Island Lighthouse and Folly Beach near Charleston, SC April 12, 2014

Your first view of the lighthouse as you come over one of the beach dunes at the north end of Folly Beach. The light no longer works and is in the process of being rehabbed if they can find enough money to do it.

Another view showing just how far out in the bay the lighthouse now sits. At one time that area was part of the mainland, but it all eroded away when they built channel wing walls along the main channel into Charleston harbor. 

Rima was busy taking pictures of her own using her phone. It just doesn't seem right that she gets such good shots with her phone while I have to use a real camera to get anything to come out right. 

In the distance you can just see the newer lighthouse that took the place of this one.

Some pretty cool driftwood on the beach. Rima looks pretty good too.   :)

One more photo of Rima in front of the lighthouse. 

 

One last photo from the beach.

 
*

   Very busy these last couple of days. Have been spending a great deal of time outside, mostly cutting down trees, de-limbing them and then cutting them up into  pieces I can pick up and move. Along the way, load after load of lopped off limbs have to be hauled out to the woods and stacked into semi neat brush piles for the critters to live in. Must be working as I scared a rabbit out of one of them yesterday afternoon.
    Heading down to Charleston, SC later this morning for a weekend contra dance. It is the annual 'Palmetto Bug Stomp', one of my favorites. For those not in the know, a Palmetto Bug is nothing more than a very large cockroach, but they're southern down here, and therefor much more polite. Will be off line for a couple days in any case, but will try to catch up with everything come Monday. Now it's time to hit the road.

   Still kind of achy from working hard all of yesterday afternoon. It was nobodies fault but my own, as I was the one who decided to go out and cut down a whole bunch of trees. No doubt it needed to be done, and it isn't finished even today, but it was more than enough to make me good and sore just doing what I did yesterday.
    So there are about ten 30'-40' tall trees out in a small area right around Rima's barn, one of which was growing right up through an old wooden gate that is in the fence around that part. That one was so thick that Rima didn't even realize there was an actual gate there any more. So I broke out the chainsaw and went to work. The hard part is that there is a wooden fence around the whole area and some of the trees were a foot or less from it, and nearly all of them were to tall to just drop inside with out landing on it. So the first one I notched about 3 feet up and neatly dropped it so that it actually hinged right over the fence as pretty as you could do it. Once most of the branches were limbed off, and the main trunk cut in pieces, I could then cut the rest of the hinge loose and hoist the rest of it right over the fence with no problem. The second one was suppose to work the same way, but I cut the hinge cut too deep and instead of falling slowly and staying connected at the cut like the first one, I watched in disbelieve as the whole trunk severed and started falling towards the fence. And then a funny thing happened, instead of smashing the fence to smithereens, it feel completely over it and didn't touch it at all. Whew!
   There were a couple more trees I cut, but there were already so many on the ground that I knew I would never get them all cleaned up before dark. So I ditched the saw and took to clearing out all the lopped off limbs. There were maybe 20 trips to the woods with a load of limbs, but I at least got the yard area cleaned up. Still more limbs to cart off and still more trees to drop, but I think they are going to have to come down piece by piece instead. There is just too much of a chance of them falling on the fence or on the barn itself. Maybe tomorrow I can get a little bit more of that chore done.
     Today was more relaxing. Hung out this morning and got some paper work stuff and banking stuff done. Also read the comics and did the crossword puzzle of course. Headed into town this afternoon with a list of errands to do. On top of the list was getting a haircut again. Seems as though I had once again left it to get too long, but now it's shorter, and I should have at least a month or two before the next one is needed.
    Also had to stop at Target and get a gift card before heading on over to Wally World to get the oil changed in the truck. It didn't seem too busy when I first arrived so it didn't seem like it would take very long for them to service the truck and rotate the tires. But after roaming the store for nearly an hour and a half, doing some minor grocery shopping at the same time, they still hadn't even started in on it by the time I got back. Another long two and a half hours of just sitting there reading my magazines, while this 10 year old, very annoying boy, whined to his mother about being bored and wanting to eat another donut. It was finally done around 5:45 though, and with just enough light to make it home in and unload the truck.
    Just past 10:00 p.m. now and I'm not at all sleepy for a change. Could be that I got more than enough sleep last night, or it could be that I slugged down 60+ oz's. of diet Dr Pepper when I had a late lunch. Either way I think I'll be doing some reading before bed tonight.

   Started raining last night and rained all through the night and on through this morning. It did finally stop around mid afternoon, but by then it was so muddy and foggy outside that you really didn't want to venture out too much into it. So we didn't! Rima was still sick with a cold today and is just now starting to sound like she might be on the mend. I am now hoping that whatever she had will bypass me, as I really hate being sick.    I spent much of the day reading and goofing off on the computer. We started putting the 4 bird houses I had cut out yesterday together this afternoon. Using old, weather beaten wood is kind of a challenge as nothing lays flat or has a solid edge anymore. We used some good polyurethane glue, ;Gorilla Glue', though and then clamped them together and added a bunch of stainless steel screws to each one. They aren't real works of art, but I think they will do what they are intended for just fine. So far we have one done and the other three in various stages of being built, as the only clamps I have are a pair of 5' long, deep throated pipe clamps I bought last week. They aren't the handiest things to use, but they do actually work. Rima seems to be getting a kick out of helping, she's quick with the clamps and glue bottle, but really likes running my big hurky screw gun the best. Ah.... girls and power tools.
    Hoping for some sun and warm temperatures again tomorrow. I'd like to get a bunch of trees and brush cleared out around the barn yet. That should be interesting to see if I can get them all down without smashing to much of the surrounding wooden fence. Sometime this week I also need to run into town and get a hair cut and the truck serviced. I'm thinking Wednesday on that though. Nothing else happening tonight, so I think I'll just go read a little while before going to bed. One nice thing about being stuck inside all day is that I did download some photos off of my camera. Found all kinds of pictures I had forgotten all about. The first batch of them are posted below and are of a day trip I took out to Fort Pulaski and Cockspur Island when I was camped out near Savannah, Georgia. Enjoy.

Cockspur Island Lighthouse near Savannah, Georgia 

Feb 28, 2014

   

Cockspur Island Lighthouse is located on the eastern tip of the island it is named after. Just inland from the ocean on the Savannah River, it marked where the river channel split to go around each side of the island. Now days only the north channel is used, so the lighthouse is no longer in use and was given to the National Park Service in 1958 by the U.S. Coast Guard.

This picture really shows why a lighthouse was needed at this point. I can well imagine that many old ships ran aground on these shoals before the light was built in 1848. 

Behind the lighthouse you can see the northern tip of Tybee Island. Just to the left of the picture is the open ocean and the main shipping channel up the Savannah River.

It's a little more than a mile hike out to the lighthouse from Fort Pulaski and the trail peters out right at the end. In calmer weather, and warmer, it would be nice to wade out to it and take a look inside. Not on the day I was there though.

The rest are just additional views of the lighthouse that I liked. 

 

 

 

A last look showing some of the rocks that surround the lighthouse. I'm not sure where the actual lighthouse keepers house was, but I doubt it was built there near the lighthouse. 

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   The rest of yesterday went very well. I spent much of the afternoon planting 17 asparagus plants that I had picked up a couple of weeks ago at the hardware store. The other 9 crowns got planted this afternoon after the day had warmed up a little bit. I guess the usual way to plant asparagus is to dig an 8" deep trench and then space the plants every 18"-24" along it and fill it in 4" on top of the crowns. Then once they start to sprout you add another 2" of dirt and so on. Being a bit more lazy, and not wanting to dig 50 feet of trench by hand, I settled for digging an 8"-10" deep hole with the post hole digger and then draping the roots down into it until the crown was about 4"-6" below the surface. Filling in the hole with the dirt I removed, I packed it in around the plant and then called it good.  Now it's just a matter of a few weeks before I see if any of them actually survive. On a different note; the grape vines I planted the other day, and which seemed like they were doing really well, probably froze back a little bit last night. So now I'll have to wait and see if they will come out again or if they froze all the way back to the roots.
   Rima and I were invited over to some friends house last night for dinner. John and Liz live only a couple miles away so it was just a quick drive over there. We had a pleasant meal of baked fish with steamed asparagus and spinach. But the highlight though was the fresh blackberry/blueberry pie with ice cream we had for dessert. It was very yummy. Afterwards there was a couple of hours of delightful conversation before heading on back home.
   Rima's cold turned worse over night, so she spent most of the day sleeping on the couch in the sun. Not much there for me to do other than make her hot tea a couple times and make sure she had aspirin and enough blankets. I spent most of the afternoon cutting out enough blanks to build 4 new bird houses. The material I had is pretty iffy as far as being straight and even, but I think I can make it work given enough glue and nails. One thing is for sure, my new 12" compound miter saw works well.
   The other thing I did late this afternoon was to trim up a bunch more trees. I concentrated on an area in the lower pasture just south of the barn and took out a whole bunch of small black thorn trees that had sprouted there. Darn those things are prickly, I feel like I have a thumb full of splinters from them this evening. What I cleared up does look better however, but it is still only a small area on a very large piece of property. A little bit at a time I guess.
   Not sure what I'll do tomorrow. Some of it will depend on if Rima is still sick or not.... I'm hoping not, even though I do like having her at home sometimes. I'd like to get a few more trees cut down around the place, and then there are always more fence posts to install. But I think a lot will depend on how the weather is and if it is warm enough to actually be outside. Today was a little on the cool side, but if you stayed out of the wind and more in the sun it was alright to be out in it. I'm hoping it will be warmer tomorrow though.


  

   Finally got this years tax forms finished up. For anyone out there who wants to go on the road full time like I have, you should note that filing your income taxes may become a serious problem if you don't plan carefully. This year, alas, it wasn't quite as easy as it has been in the past. Part of the problem was of my own making, such as not keeping a copy of last years filing with me in the trailer, and part was in other  matters, such as my personnel mailbox store going out of business, making it harder for me to collect some of the documents I needed. In the end though, it all got done and the good news is that there will be some money being returned at some point... so Yeah!
   After that there was a little time left over to get out doors and enjoy the day. There was time to fill up the horse trough with water and move a bunch of tree limbs over to where they can be cut up for firewood later on. Also went out and raked and shoveled some of the gravel that had been delivered yesterday so that it was evened out a bit more than it had been left.
   Once done with that there was just enough time to catch a shower and get in the truck and head into Blacksburg for the evening. Rima and I had a nice, and unique meal at a little hole in the wall Ethiopian restaurant. Spicy lamb, chicken and potato, cous cous with dried fruit and some lentils with tomatoes. All of this eaten with a slightly fermented bread, enjeer, they make, that looks like a tortilla but is more like a deliciously edible moist towelet.
   Once done with dinner it was off to a friends house to attend a house concert they had planned for the evening. Paddy Keenan from Ireland was the headliner this time around. A player of the uilleann pipes, he was both a master musician and a wonderful teller of tales. Uilleann pipes are  'sort of' a version of the more common bag pipe, in that it also uses a bag, it has a 'chanter' to play a melody on and it has several drone pipes that give the tune that background droning sound. The sound is just a bit more muted sounding and therefore you are capable of sitting in a small room and listening to music from a uilleann pipe. A fun evening of music and conversation, but it was soon over and time to head on back to the house.
    Today I'm going to take it a little bit easy. There are some asparagus plants that need to be planted and some brush to clear. There is also a couple of trees that need to come down, but those are low down on the list of things to do. I think at some point there will also just be some sitting on the deck and watching the deer time.

    Finished up my first piece of fence repair yesterday afternoon. Only another couple of miles of fence to go now. Granted, it was only a couple hundred feet of fence, but it meant setting all new fence posts, each at least 3 feet into the ground, and then taking the old fencing and stretching it, one strand at a time, adjusting many of the vertical stays, and then reattaching it all to the new posts with new fence staples.  Whew! The best part of it all was being able to plant 5 new grape vines along the new fence. Perhaps there will even be grapes in a year or two.
    I was just finishing up the last fence nail when the dump truck with a load of gravel for the driveway showed up. He was only 3.5 hours late, but he at least made it finally and once he had dumped his load it looked a lot better than it had been. Of course there is still a need to go out and rake out a few places where it was dumped thicker than normal, or where more gravel is needed.
    Once the gravel was raked enough to keep someone from getting high centered, it was time to head into town as I had planned for the day. We were in need of some food in the house again and there were a couple other items that I needed to get done. For instance, I needed a couple keys for a padlock that I need to use again. While there I found that I could also get a new truck ignition key made while there, and it was only going to cost me a bit less than $70. A steep price for sure, but less than half of the price I was quoted when I originally bought the truck many years ago.
    Got a load of groceries and then went out and had a quick bite to eat, as somehow I had managed to miss lunch. It was only a quick meal and then it was back on the road for home again. Nearly made it there too, except that I got a call from Rima right as I was turning on to the dirt road to the house. Something large and metallic thing had just fallen off of her car while she was driving in town. Not sure what the part was as I never actually saw it, but I did turn around and go rescue her. Kind of like a slightly rusty knight on my trusty mechanical steed.
    Since she actually made it home before 9:30, we settled in and watched a couple episodes of the 'Big Bang Theory' show. Yup.... she's hooked on it now, so we usually manage to watch an episode or two on most evenings. It's a nice way to unwind after a long, busy day.
     Going to finally try and get my income tax done today. Had to have my friend in Colorado dig through my mail and fax me some stuff  I ended up needing after all. Still need to dig out one set of figures from my bank yet, but that should be a pretty easy thing to do. Once done with, then there is still more gravel to rake and trees to trim. There is always something out there to do.
     For now though.... the last set of pictures from my visit to the Belz Museum in Memphis a couple weeks ago.

Belz Museum of Asian and Judaic Art in Memphis Tennessee March 2014

     

A group of carved jade and ivory boats.

A close up of one of the carved jade ships. Just look at the detail they managed to carve into solid rock.

Another marvelous ship model, this one out of carved ivory.

Yet another dragon boat design made out of jade.

One last ivory dragon boat. Check out the scales, tail and even the waves that are carved out of ivory.

An extra large ivory sculpture. I'm not really sure what the theme of it is... there wasn't anything explaining the big round, Death Star, kind of thing. But the detail of all the trees, birds and buildings was pretty cool.



Some of the detail from the last sculpture.

One last close up.

Unfortunately most of the photo's I took over in the Judaic art section didn't turn out very well because of the dim light, but there were a few interesting things in that section. Here you see a couple of bronze sculptures depicting all the books in the original Jewish history. Also known as the Old Testament

A 'Violano Virtuoso' a machine produced by the Mills Company, circa 1920. It is remarkable in that it is a combination of a finely tuned 64 note violin and a 44 key piano. It is said that it could play to perfection many complex and up tempo arrangements that even orchestras would not attempt to play. Mostly though, it was invented to take the place of having to hire and pay orchestras to play. I would of liked to have heard it play. 

A few final photo's of downtown Memphis and Beale Street. I just liked this sign for some reason.

Looking west along Beale street.

Another view looking east.

Finally, one of the electric trolley cars the city uses for its rapid transit system.

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    Another beautiful day in Floyd yesterday. My morning was taken up with my usual routine, reading, doing the crossword, checking e-mail etc. I was done before noon and headed off to the town of Riner to have lunch with Rima. We had buffalo quesadillas' and ice tea out on the front porch and watched the cars pull in and out of the gas station next door.
    I stopped at the lumber yard on the way back to the farm and picked up another load of wooden fence posts. Seems that I worked my way through the first set with only one more to set in the section of fence I have been working on. Unfortunately this one post took longer than 3 of the regular ones as I had to first dig out the old one which was nearly rotted through at the ground line, and then put the other one in and tighten it up. To make it worse, this one was located in a corner so it had stresses from two directions at once. The digging was the hard part, but the old post finally came out. Dug the old hole out another 8 inches deeper and then got the new post stuck into it. Ended up having to back the truck up close to it an hook on to the post with a strap and 2 ton come-along in order to winch it up straight and level. Got the dirt packed back in around the base of it, but will still need to install a corner brace before it will stand up straight to the pull of the fence.
   Still.... it was a good afternoons work and I was ready to quit by the time the sun was going down. Just had time to grab a bite to eat, say hello to Rima when she got home and then go to bed.
   Will be working on the fence a little bit more today, trying to get that last fence post completed and standing up straight. In the meantime though... I'm headed into Floyd to do lunch with Rima again. What can I say... I like to eat, and I like to spend time with my sweetie. There is always plenty of time to sweat out in the hot sun.
     But for right now... here are a few more photo's that I got fixed up last night.

Belz Museum of Asian and Judaic Art in Memphis Tennessee. March 2014

How's this for a parade? Here we have several different pairs of animals created from different materials. Many of them are formed from some color of carved jade including the two horses right in front. Others are ceramic and there may even be a pair that are painted wood, though I could not determine that. 

Here are two more exquisite horses created completely from carved onyx, another variation of jade. 

These two camels were just gorgeous with their green jade bodies and other carved stone accents. 

These are Phoenixes carved completely out of green jade. They stand at least 5' tall.  

The tail end of the parade and some beautifully painted ceramic and possibly wood animals. Hard to tell without being able to touch them. 

Another large carved piece made out of red jade. 

This ivory carving was remarkable for its sheer size and detail. Note how it had to be placed under a dome in the roof in order to get it all in. As it is I think it must be well over 10 feet tall. I couldn't believe it was placed out in the middle of an aisle where everyone could brush by or touch it. The temptation was there of course.... but we didn't.

Another one of those things you see, but just can't believe are real. This matched set of urns are made of carved onyx and have to be 7' to 8' tall. 

There was one display case of ivory carved figurines that were stunning. All of them had some type of unusual theme or an everyday event occurring in them. This one with the balanced acrobat really caught your eye.

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