It's Super Bowl Sunday!

Tonight is Super Bowl 50 and I am ready to watch the final football game of the season and, of course, the commercials.  Watching the Super Bowl can sometimes be tough especially if you have a team you like playing in it and the musical guest for the half time show is good.  What makes it tough?  Trying to figure out when to go to the bathroom.  You can't go during the game because you may miss a great play.  You can't go during the commercials because you might miss a good commercial and you can't go at halftime because you will miss a great show.  See, it is tough to watch the Super Bowl.  This year one of my teams are in the Super Bowl...GO BRONCOS... and I really haven't seen any of the commercials (last year most of the commercials were previewed a head of time) so I will have plan accordingly but enough potty talk.
The Super Bowl is a major event in this country and in a way has become like a holiday.  There is a lot of hype building up to the day like how to plan your super bowl party, foods, drinks, decorations, etc.  when the game starts most of the streets in America empty out because almost everyone is watching the game.  I am not complaining; I think that it is great!  I love the Super Bowl especially when you watch it with others.  This year we are watching the Super Bowl at Lisa and George's house with some of the neighbors joining us.  We are going to have some great appetizers then a taco bar for dinner.  It will be fun but check back tomorrow and I will share what happens.  GO BRONCOS!!!

Eastern Tennessee

 Now that we have been living in eastern Tennessee for a little over a year we have barely explored this area.  There are so many things to do that, in a way, we don't know where to start.  In eastern Tennessee there is rugged mountains, rolling farmlands and wild river gorges but there is also family amusement parks, charming cities, nice resorts, parks and rivers.  Last but not least and my favorite a rich and colorful history to explore. Eastern Tennessee is divided into three regions: the Cumberland Plateau, the Tennessee Valley and the Unaka Mountains. The Cumberland Plateau is  located on the western edge of eastern Tennessee and is a rugged area made up of deep river gorges and dense hardwood forests.  The soil is infertile and the rugged land keeps the Plateau isolated and is the least populated in east Tennessee. It is a great place for outdoor activities.  The Tennessee Valley is located down the center of East Tennessee but it really isn't a valley geologically speaking.  It has rolling hills and ridges that divide the land into a series of valleys with the Tennessee river running down the center of it.  The major metropolitan area are located here and so are we.  The Unaka Mountains form Tennessee's eastern border,  It is part of the Appalachian chain and the Unakas are divided into three parts.  The upper Unakas to the north, the lower Unakas to the south and the Great Smoky Mountains in the middle.  There is also a huge amount of American history in this area from before the Revolutionary War time through the Civil War to current times.  So, as you can see, there is so much to do around this area and I am ready to explore this wonderful place where I live!

A Walk In The Woods

Tim and I watched "A Walk In The Woods" last night on pay per view.  We got a couple of free movies and this was one I have been wanting to see.  Tim had already seen it with George and Lisa last fall when I was in California.  I did not get a chance to see it until now.  Robert Redford, Nick Nolte and Emma Thompson star in it and all did a great job.  It is about two older guys hiking the Appalachian trail.  It was a good, fuuny enjoyable film and if you want to see a feel good movie check this one out.  It was good!

Organizing Paper

As a Rubber Stamper I have a lot of different materials I work with but the basic materials for rubber stamping is stamps, ink and paper.  These basic items come in all sorts of images, colors and types that good organization of the materials is needed.  I have great storage for my stamp sets and inks but I could not settle on how to keep my paper organized but I have finally figured out a system; a file cabinet.  I "borrowed" the idea from my sister Pam who has been using file cabinets for quite some time now.  I thought my system was just fine until I was working in her craft room for so long and realized that her paper organization was perfect.  It was easy to find the color you wanted, all neatly kept and right where you were working; it was perfect.  So when Tim and I went to Walmart Sunday we had no intentions on getting a file cabinet but they were on sale and Tim remembered me telling him I wanted one.  I picked a white file cabinet, to coordinate with the other furnishings in the Crafty Cottage, and some file folders.  When we got back to the farm on Sunday I worked on making a place for the file cabinet which also forced me to get better organized in the Crafty Cottage too.  Yesterday I worked on organizing the paper and now my file system is complete and my paper it organized and ready for me to get busy again.  Yay!!!

Just A Little Wind

Yesterday Lisa and I headed to Morristown to go grocery shopping.  We usually do our grocery shopping in Newport but I needed a couple of things from Hobby Lobby and we wanted to check out a new grocery store in Morristown.  We kind of made a day of grocery shopping and when we got back to the farm we got hit in the face by wind.  When the wind is out of the south or southeast it comes right up the hill and hits our place directly and if it is hard enough can really shake us up.  When the wind is from the west or north the hill and trees behind us block it.  Most of last year we had winds from the north or west but this fall and winter we have been nailed with southern winds and it does take a toll on us. Yesterday, last night and this morning we are still shaking.  It shakes the slides and whips the slide covers which makes a lot of noise.  We have had steady winds at 15 to 20 mph and gust of 40 to 50 mph.  Poor Shadow does not enjoy the rocking of the RV.  There is a big storm coming through this morning then the winds should switch to the north and things will be quiet again.  Until then, we just sit and wait and turn the TV volume up.

Happy Groundhog Day

Happy Groundhog Day!  Will Punxsutawney Phil see his shadow?  If he does that means six more weeks of winter but if he doesn't Spring will come early.  Well, if Punxsutawney Phil were here at the farm he would NOT see his shadow and Spring will be coming early.  I guess we will have to wait and see.  Here in Tennessee some people like to use the Wooly Worm for the winter weather prediction.  The wooly worm or a caterpillar from the Tiger moth can predict winter weather by how thick the stripes are on its body.  The thicker and darker the stripe the harder winter will be.  If the stripe is brown it will be a mild winter but this all happens in the fall and I wasn't here last fall to hear the prediction.  Okay Phil, I guess it's all up to you!

Update On Punxsutawney Phil...Way to go Phil, no shadow!  There will be an early Spring!!!

A Short Scenic Drive

Tim and I took a short scenic drive very close to home.  We have heard about the Foothills Parkway but never had a chance to drive it.  The Foothills Parkway is a National Parkway which, if completed, will traverse the foothills of the northern Great Smokey Mountains in eastern Tennessee.  The 71 mile parkway will connect U.S. Route 129 along the Little Tennessee River in the west with Interstate 40 along the Pigeon River in the east.  It will pass through three counties and several large sections of the parkway will cross a series of high ridges running parallel to the Great Smokey Mountains.  It will offer unobstructed views of the Great Smokies. It is the oldest unfinished highway project in Tennessee and the funding has continuously been stalled by funding difficulties since Congress authorized its construction in 1944.  As of 2010, only one third of the parkway has been completed and opened to automobile traffic.  It is 26.8 miles long with two sections; the western and the eastern.  We took the eastern parkway which is 5.6 miles long.  We will take the western parkway on another day.  It was a pretty drive even with all the leaves off the trees.  I am looking forward to making the same drive in the fall; it should be beautiful.  If you are in eastern Tennessee make sure you drive a portion of the Foothills Parkway.  You won't be disappointed.