Sunday, October 18
We had a beautiful clear day with no wind for our outdoor worship experience. Pastor Kristie asked me to offer the prayer. We had a few songs and a short devotional. About 26 people attended. Before leaving for church I started some red beans and a ham bone. After I got home, I got that into the crock pot with some chopped onions, celery and peppers.
During the afternoon, I worked on some fall-themed masks for the Missouri Whitakers like the ones I made for the Matzeks.
I fed my sourdough starter and before bed I made the levain to be ready to bake on Monday. I used the leftover starter to make a focaccia to go with the Red Beans & Rice for tonight. That's andouille sausage floating in the bean/ham broth. Both turned into a great supper.
Monday, October 19
I started the bread before breakfast. It is an all day, off-and-on process. Since I would be close to the kitchen all day and had pears picked and ready to use, I also undertook another batch of pear honey. So between bread steps, during the rising, I washed, peeled and chopped pears. Then cooked them with sugar, jarred them and processed them in the water bath. I hardly left the kitchen all day.
By 5 pm I was almost finished, just the baking left to be done. And I was almost done in! I sat on the deck for a well-earned rest and a dose of "back medicine." Melanie and I had a nice chat, too. We had been texting throughout the afternoon.
I baked first the loaf that proofed in the new banneton (basket), using my new cast iron combo cooker. My ancient dutch oven has worked well, but I wanted to try a new cast iron. The first load turned out beautifully - the best yet. The other two were just ok.
I was glad to have Red Beans & Rice leftover for supper, with a salad and focaccia.
Tuesday, October 20
I went to Oak Ridge for lunch with Marie. We haven't gotten together for a couple of months and I had not been to her house except for one brief visit. We ate on her patio and had a great conversation. We often talk church and/or theology. She is my only friend (except Anna) who is interested in that kind of conversation. I stopped for Chinese before leaving town so that we will have a treat for supper.
Bill had a squamous cell skin cancer removed from his left forearm this afternoon. He wasn't feeling so well when he finally got home. The incision is almost 4 inches.
Wednesday, October 21
Bill and I had thought we would drive to Fall Creek Falls for a fall-color tour today, but he didn't feel like making that long drive. We decided to drive (RV of course) across Ft. Loudoun Lake to south Loudon County to check out two campgrounds and have a picnic. It was a beautiful fall day, sunny and warm.
We drove through Yarberry Campground on Ft. Loudon Lake and then on to Lauderdale Cove Campground on Tellico Lake. Lauderdale Cove is down toward Greenback. We took Axley Chapel Rd, which turned out to be a scenic but narrow and winding country lane. Axley Chapel is a beautiful, historic UMC, which appears well-kept and vibrant. It is a traditional white board country church. I wish I had taken a picture. Both campgrounds were nice, and scenic on the lake, but neither appealed to our taste - too congested. We enjoyed our picnic at Lauderdale Cove.
On the way back we took National Campground Rd. I have heard of National Campground but knew very little about it and had never visited the site. The site was a Union Army encampment during the Civil War as General Sherman's army rested there in preparation for the siege of Knoxville.
After the war, in 1873-74, a group of former Union and Confederate soldiers established the site for religious camp meeting for the purpose of creating "union" in the region. A large open-shed tabernacle built in 1874 still stands today. Many different denominations were represented in the founding and in the annual revival meetings that are still held every fall.
https://tennesseeencyclopedia.net/entries/national-campground/
Thursday, October 22
We gathered again on Connie's deck for our monthly neighbor lunch today. Five us enjoyed the beautiful view of the Cumberland Mountains and the hillsides just turning orange, red and brown. The colors are still spotty. Linda was able to come today, joining Connie, Marilyn, Kathy and me. We hadn't seen her in months, so that was a treat.
After I got home, I took Amanda for a practice drive - her driving practice, not mine! She wanted some lunch so she drove us to Chik-Fil-A where she navigated the drive-through. We then decided to go to Lenoir City Park on the lakefront so she had to manage a U-turn on Hwy 321. She did a great job and got us home safely. At the part, we enjoyed feeding the ducks.
Friday, October 23
No video recording this Friday! We will have church in the sanctuary this week and will begin recording the service live for rebroadcast later. I met Bonnie for an early lunch at Burgers then I went to Food City for groceries and BBQ. Their smoker truck is in town and I got some pulled pork for our game-day supper tomorrow. For Bill and me, I got ribs for tonight. I fried eggplant slices for our side-dish.
Saturday, October 24
Bonnie will join us again at the Brocks to watch UT get creamed by Alabama. We all just hope that we can hold them to under 50 points and score a few for our side. The game didn't start until 3:30, so I had time to get some housework done. The game went as expected We ended with a 48-17 loss. Somehow, it didn't seem as bad as last week's loss to Georgia. The best part was the food and company. Bonnie brought her deviled eggs, I made slaw to go with the BBQ pork and Kathy added baked beans and baba ganoush.
Numbers:
Earlier this week I though that the number of new cases in Loudon County might be on a downward trajectory, but the last 2 days they shot up again with 46 new cases. US had the highest daily total of new cases on 10/23.
US, NY Times
8.584,100 total cases; 85,085 new cases; 925 new deaths; 224,400 total deaths
The 14-day change in new cases is +34%
TN is listed among the states where new cases are increasing and are above 15/100,000/day. TN ranks 8th in the total number of cases /100,000 and 10th in the number of new cases/100,000.
TN Dept of Health:
+2574 new cases since yesterday; 244,087 total cases;
+24 new deaths; 3100 total deaths;
11,912 cases age 0-10; 32,320 cases age 11-20; the relative percentages of 5 and 13 have stayed steady
Loudon County
1612 total cases; 150 active cases; 11 deaths; 47 hospitalized
7-day avg case rate is 26.2/100,000
14-day avg of new cases is 16.0
pos rate = 10.3%
The last day that I recorded numbers was Oct 14, 10 days ago. Loudon County has added 129 new cases and 2 deaths since then.
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