Hurricane Relief At The Farm

As the Hurricane moves in on Florida here at the farm we have a Hurricane evacuee here at the farm.  Lisa and George's daughter, Kaitlyn, decided to move up her visit to the farm to this week end instead of next week end to get out of Florida during Hurricane Matthew's reign.  Travis, their son, was also going to make the journey but decided to ride it out in Jacksonville.  So Welcome Kaitlyn!  My kids decided to also stay in Jacksonville and ride out the storm.  They are prepared and ready for whatever Hurricane Matthew brings.  Be careful my Florida family and friends.  Our thoughts and prayers are with you. 

Just A Glimpse For Halloween

While Tim and George continued to play with the dirt I was busy creating something very cute, at least in my opinion, for Halloween.  My sister gave me the idea and so I had to make some for family and friends.  It is a 3D Halloween card but it did take two days to make just 6 of them. The first one I made was actually for my Rory.  I think she will really like the card and even though she is only two I still think she will like it.  I know her Mom will!   So check out the pic and here is a hint, there is a glimpse of the card in the picture.  Today Tim and I are headed to Branson, MO to spend a long weekend with Mom C and Jim. 

Expanding The Pad

The RV Pad at the top of the hill at the farm is being expanded.  When George originally built it he did it for his Class A motorhome where he drove into the pad.  That works great for Class As but 5th wheels and travel trailers do not have the luxury.  So, in order to be facing the direction of  a few and not a bunch of trees the RV pad has to be expanded.  How do you expand something that is surrounded by a holler?  You need dirt, lots of it, and there is plenty of dirt to be had but it needs to dug up and moved.  That is what Tim and George have been working on for the past week or so.  Of course one important thing needed is for the equipment to work.  Last Thursday things were going great and progress was made until Friday when the dump truck broke an axel.  Tim and George had it fixed by Saturday and the digging continued until Sunday when the backhoe decided to stop moving forward.  At this point the backhoe is needed to finish the pad and moving the dirt around is what is needed to complete the pad.  If you remember right, the last time the backhoe broke it took over 6 months to get repaired mostly due to TMT (Tennessee Mountain Time).  So, with a mess created something had to be done.  George decided to rent a backhoe to get the Pad project completed.  Monday afternoon, a backhoe was delivered and George has been digging up a storm.  Tim and George have spent the rest of Monday and into Monday night and all of Tuesday and Tuesday night working on moving the dirt and expanding the pad.  One more day, today, should do it and the pad should be well on its way to being completed.  Good thing too since Tim and I leave for Branson, MO tomorrow.  Check out the pictures of the old and new equipment and how the new pad is progressing.  Good job Tim and George! 

A Giant Spider?

I came across one of the coolest Halloween decorations I have seen in a while and it was all homemade and HUGE!  Lisa and I were driving to Morristown to do some shopping and along one of the back roads was a huge spider.  What it was made of was genius and I would love to do it myself.  The house where this was located used a rolled hay bale for the body, tubing for the legs, it had big eyes and then used some spider webbing and threw in a critter in the web.  It was great and when you drive past it really leaves an impression.  We passed it on the way to Morristown so on our way back I stopped and took a picture because it was so cool.  Way to go to the family who did it.  Halloween is only 27 days away!

Victory Lanes

The bowling alley in Newport, TN is Victory Lanes and that is also where I bowl in the Coffee League on Wednesday mornings.  As you know, I am not very good so Tim and I decided to go bowling to get some practice in for me.  I really needed to figure out what I was doing wrong and why I could not get a pattern set for bowling.  Victory Lanes is a very nice bowling alley.  It is a bit older than a lot of bowling alleys but it is well maintained and the staff is very friendly.  The best part is that it is very reasonable to play a few games.  It was quiet when we went but that was great for me because I could try things without making me look really bad; I do that really well already!  Tim and I bowled three games and after all that practice I figured out that I do not have a step pattern to approach the lane and if I don't think and just roll the bowl I do much better then when I am trying to concentrate on the pins.  It was fun and we will be going bowling more often.

Newport Fall Festival

It is fall festival time here in eastern Tennessee and for the next five weeks there will be fall festivals in the surrounding towns.  Last year I was in California so I missed all of the festivals but this year I will be able to attend a few.  The first one is the fall festival in Newport, TN.  Main Street for a couple of blocks is closed to vehicle traffic and lot of booth are set up.  The Newport Fall Festival is more of a business related festival with many businesses and churches manning booths. There are kiddie rides, food trucks and lots of games too.  They is also a Beautiful Baby Contest and the Miss Newport Pageant.  It is our least favorite festival but it is the first and gets us ready for the rest of the festivals.  Next week is Parrottsville Fall Festival.

Welcome October!

Welcome October and with it some more seasonal temperatures.  The past couple of days have been in the high 60's low 70's and at night it is getting down into the 50's.  The leaves have not started changing yet but with these temperatures it should start to happen soon.  In saying that, last night when I was coming up from the Crafty Cottage, I looked over to the mountains in North Carolina and they were glowing.  The sun was setting and lite up the mountains and even though the leaves haven't changed yet it looked like it had.  It was a beautiful sight and a nice view to end the day with.  Today, the first fall festival starts here in eastern Tennessee and for the next 5 weeks they will continue in several towns around up.  Check back tomorrow to see how the festival was.