adventures – Page 3 – Random Thoughts

Treevelanche! Fun with Snow

This article was pulled from the files: one published elsewhere and the copyrights have expired so I may use it here. Enjoy!

I am SO easily amused!

Our white Christmas turned into a VERY white Christmas. This morning I measured 5½ inches of snow laying on top of our porch sides. That makes it the largest snow fall we can remember… and it’s still snowing!

Yes, I know… this is nothing at all to those of you with 12” or more on the ground already. But if you think THAT is lame… read on!

The trees are loaded down too, making a gorgeous winter wonderland of our yard, or at least it was until a bit of a wind kicked up. Then I experienced one of the most entertaining things I’ve seen in a while.

I’m sitting on the sofa watching out the window when a gust would wiggle the upper branches of a tree, dislodging some snow. This would fall down onto branches below, dislodging more snow, which fell and dislodged even more, suddenly this tree would go into a “white out” condition with the snow flying all around and I could hear a “fwoop-woomp-woomp” sound as the whole batch smashed into the ground.

It was wonderful! Ah the joys of simple living! Or maybe I should say life as a simpleton! Laugh if you want, but I’m having a great time!

An Eventful Day

This day started off with a bang – or maybe more like a crash – although we didn’t hear it or even know about it for a while. The first sound I actually heard was the telephone. It was about 6:30. It was Mom – near hysterical. Pat is in trouble, she has called an ambulance, she needs my help.

So I get dressed – sort of; I pull jeans and a sweatshirt over my pajamas and slip into some shoes – and trot through the snow to Mom’s house. Pat is half-off their bed just wearing pajama pants and babbling incoherently. Mom tells me he was foaming at the mouth and saying “Just shoot me, just shoot me, I want to die.”

The babbling and foaming at the mouth remind me of past times when his blood sugar dropped into the 20’s so I ask her if she has checked his blood sugar. She says “No, he’s not sweating, if his blood sugar goes down he sweats like a horse.” Continue reading “An Eventful Day”

Fine as Frog Hair

Here in the South, we have a saying that can be used in response to the small-talk prompt of “How are you?” when you are feeling especially good (or don’t really want to engage in small talk); it goes, “Fine as frog hair .” It’s kind of cute and makes you think a little. Just how fine IS frog hair I wonder?

frog hair I was in the garden watering. When I got to the strawberry bed, there was considerable movement in the leaves in one corner. I was not surprised by that: I often flush a toad from these beds. They are welcomed visitors because they eat the bugs and slugs that crawl around in the boxes. Usually they are pretty small: the size of a golf ball, or so. This was a much bigger toad. I could see flashes of the brown color through the leaves.

Then those flashes started moving in different directions. Several, much bigger toads.

Then one of them hopped out of the box and into the path through the berry house. It was HAIRY! Several big, hairy toads! Nah … can’t BE! I looked again. Continue reading “Fine as Frog Hair”

Gone Mater Hunting

Blondie n me got up early and went mater hunting this morning. We knowed of a spot where they hang out. We got where we figured they’d be and sure enough: a whole bunch of ‘em just baskin’ in the sun an bein’ lazy.

We crept into the place real quiet like. It was still cool enough they weren’t stirring yet. Maters can be mean, sos ya gotta sneak up on em from down-wind. We’d creep up and reach out slow and easy, then – SNATCH! We’d whip one away quick, break its neck and stuff it in the bag.

Most never knew what hit ‘em, a few though; they put up a tussle. An’ one: I thought that one had me, but Blondie grabbed hold of my pant leg and pulled me back safe.

When we got a bag full we totted ‘em on home. There I fixed up a big pot of boilin water to dunk ‘em in for a short spell: that loosens their hide ya know, so yas don’t waste so much meat gittin it off’n em. We dunked ‘em in the boilin’ water then into cold water, then we could skin ‘em out easy.

Then we cut out their heart: tain’t no good to no one anyhow. An’ split open their belly to scoop out their goopy guts. They ain’t no good neither.

That left us with a good carcass of meat that we chunked up an’ put on ice. We’ll cook all that up tomorrow. We’ll make some mater soup, then can up the rest to use fer soup or stew, or it can be cooked down and used in lots of different ways.

Yessir, mater meat is good eatin’ – an thar ain’t much more fun than a day mater hunting.

Fly Me to the Moon (or at Least to Nebraska)

My step-mother recently passed away. While the term “step-mother” often conjures up images of an abusive pseudo-parent: this was not the case with Doris. She was always kind and loving to my siblings and me, never tried to replace our birth-mother and was a devoted wife to my father for over 30 years. I felt it was important that I get to her funeral to pay my respects to her and to support my dad. Achieving that goal proved to be somewhat daunting.

My initial reaction was, as normal, to drive the 1,000 miles separating me from her home of Sprague Nebraska. But a number of factors conspired to make that option impractical. Some of these might have been mitigated through car-pooling with a brother who lives in the same general part of the nation as I, but that too was quashed by circumstances.

Marie and I decided the best option was for me to fly to Nebraska and back and we began researching airfare and schedules. In the end we decided on United Express, a division of United Airlines, and a flight plan that took me from the Knoxville Tennessee airport to O’Hare airport in Chicago then on to the Lincoln Nebraska airport with only a 1½ hour lay-over in Chicago. This would get me to Lincoln by 9:45 AM and I didn’t need to be back on board for the return flight until 6:15 PM, giving me most of the day to visit with relatives and attend the funeral service. The cost was doable and it seemed a reasonable solution. Continue reading “Fly Me to the Moon (or at Least to Nebraska)”

MoonPies in the Smokies Festival

On May 26th, 2012 approximately 3,000 people braved the 92° temperatures to attend the First Annual MoonPie in the Smokies Festival, held in Newport Tennessee at the A&I Fairgrounds and sponsored by Pepsi, the Cocke County Partnership, Chattanooga Bakery and 92.3 WNPC radio.

In many respects it was your typical country fair: there were food, drink and memorabilia vendors, there was a car show, there was a cornhole tournament, there were inflatable bouncy things for the kids to play in, there was a giant sand pile to dig in, the fire department sent a pumper truck to spray water in an area where folks could go to cool off. The local grammar school kids put on a musical comedy called The Unknown Salesman honoring Mr. Earl Mitchell Sr. inventor of the iconic Southern snack; the MoonPie, which featured – naturally – dancing MoonPies: the MoonPiettes. But the guests of honor were The World’s Largest MoonPie, Anna Pratt; granddaughter of Mr. Mitchel, and Ron Dickson author of The Great MoonPie Handbook.

Ms. Pratt lives in Gatlinburg TN but frequently comes to Newport to put flowers on the grave of her grandfather (Mitchell) who is buried in Union Cemetery. When asked if her grandfather had received any royalties from his invention she replied, “Not a penny.” But his creation has spread joy across the South for generations; every self-respecting Southerner knows that a MoonPie and an RC Cola is the greatest snack on the planet. Continue reading “MoonPies in the Smokies Festival”

The Great NASCAR Pilgrimage

Since I’m low on ideas for prattlings this week I thought I’d skate along by reprising a post from an old blog about the last time we took a really-truly vacation. That was 2011, when Marie and I went on our NASCAR pilgrimage to Charlotte Motor Speedway. This has been an annual trip for many years, but this year we added a twist.

Normally we just take a long weekend and pop over to North Carolina and back. While there we take in a race, visit some race shops and see some sights. We live just 12 miles from the Tennessee/North Carolina border and the drive to Salisbury (where we stay with relatives) is only about 3 hours – if we drive straight through, which we rarely do.

This time we decided to go to North Carolina by way of Alabama and Georgia so we could visit with my twin-brother-by-another-mother and his wife. We took an entire week (an historic event in itself), took our time and enjoyed the journey. Continue reading “The Great NASCAR Pilgrimage”

Snow Day for Blondie

It snowed yesterday. It snowed last night. It’s snowing again this morning. We currently have 6 or 7 inches of snow on the ground. For New Hampshire, that’s nothing; for Tennessee that’s crippling. The entire region has declared a snow day. Schools closed yesterday. Government offices are closed. Most businesses are closed, those that are open are running on skeleton crews. The road crews are pleading with folks to stay home: stay off the roads so they can get them cleared. Stuck vehicles just slow them down. We’ll just hunker in and make the most of it. The dogs will enjoy this special play day with both of us here.

Continue reading “Snow Day for Blondie”

We knew him when