Sunday, October 4
If not for Hurricane Sally two weeks ago, we would be leaving today for Orange Beach for a 10 day stay at Wind Drift, with the Matzeks and Missouri Whitakers joining us for a long weekend. Our condo cancelled all rentals because of the wind and water damage. Instead, I went to Trinity's 2nd outdoor gathering this morning. It is not a full worship service, so we aren't calling it that. The weather was perfect. I gave the devotional, a 5-minute meditation on Communion because today is World Communion Sunday. I didn't write a full text, just notes, so I haven't included it in my "Sermons and Essays. The gist of is was that Communion is a coming together and finding unity that supercedes our differences and World Communion is an opportunity to look for and celebrate diversity in our community. About 20 people attended.
Sunday afternoon was restful as it should be. I did find time and energy to mow the garden and I needed that bit of exercise.
Amanda did not play up to her own expectations in the golf tournament, shooting 100 both days. She said that on the 2nd day of 18 holes she just ran out of steam. However, it was a good experience to compete in a statewide match.
Monday, October 5
Monday started with picking up Amanda from softball workout before breakfast. After breakfast, Bill and I had a nice walk, taking our usual route through the park.
The big project of the day was making pear honey from some of the pears I picked on Wednesday. Ten plus pounds if pears peeled, cored and coarsely chopped took me about an hour. The pears were then put through the food processor in small batches and put into my big pot. Twelve cups (6 pounds) of sugar was stirred in the cooked "until clear." We are not making jelly, so not pectin or sure-jell is required. Pint and half-pint jars were run through the dishwasher while I was working on the pears. When the pear/sugar mixture was cooked enough, it was ladled into the jars and processed in a water-bath to sterilize and seal. The recipe produced 7 pints and 7 half-pints. I don't know how my grandmother did it without the modern conveniences that I have. She worked on a small gas stove and until later years did not have air-conditioning in Mississippi.
I fixed an early supper of pork chops and lima beans before heading off to a church meeting to finish a busy day.
Tuesday, October 6
Another beautiful fall day! Temperatures are trending closer to normal after being cooler for several days. This is the first year since I retired that we have experienced an East Tennessee October. I am really enjoying the early fall change of season. Our morning walks are crisp and we see more change of color every day.
Today's project was to get ready for our trip to Cataloochee tomorrow for one overnight in the RV. Laura, Mike and Amanda are heading to the beach at Destin tomorrow afternoon to arrive on Thursday. Ironically, Hurricane Delta (we've run through the alphabet have are on the the Greek names) will be impacting the Gulf Coast this weekend. If we were there, we would likely be impacted.
Numbers:
US: 7,519,600 cases; 210,500 deaths
TN: 205,375 cases, +1676 since yesterday; 2,621 deaths; 0-10 - 10,181; 11-21 - 27,436
Loudon County: 1319 cases; 171 active; 8 deaths
31.7/100,00 case rate for last 7 days, The case rate has increases for the last 2 weeks
11.1% pos rate, 7-day avg
Loudon County is in the Red Zone as defined by White House guidelines. All trends are getting worse
Wednesday, October 7
We always like to record the time that we leave and the mileage when we start a trip. We often forget to record the time and mileage when we get back home! Today we left at 9:17 am (mi 99,181) in the RV for the Cataloochee Valley on the North Carolina side of the Great Smoky Mountain National Park. We travel on I-40 into the mountains and get off at the Maggie Valley/Lake Junaluska exit #20. At 11:46 am we were exiting the interstate and embarking on the adventure (mi 99,293). After a brief stop for gas and firewood, we started down Cove Creek Rd at noon. The road goes from paved two-lane to paved one-lane and then to gravel. We steadily climbed the narrow switchback and reached the park entrance at the top of the mountain ridge (mi 99,299.6). The road going up drops off steeply on the outside (passenger side). It is a very uncomfortable experience for me being on the edge of the cliff, especially when we met a car coming down. Fortunately there were enough wide places to pull over. We made it across the gravel switchbacks and down to the pavement at 12:39 (mi 99,301.3). The three miles of gravel took about 20 minutes drive time.
After a brief stop at the scenic overlook, we checked into our campsite #13 at 1 pm, just in time for a lunch picnic of salmon spread and apples. Our campsite was spacious and scenic.
From my recliner
Green and blue in harmony
The view is awe-filled.
At 3 pm we left for the area of the valley where we hoped to hike and/or see the elk. Our plan had been to drive to the end of the paved road, then continue for another mile on a gravel road where we would park and walk another mile to a restored homesite, the "Woody Place." We hoped to see elk in the fields or woods along the way. Last year they were almost in the road where the paved road changed to gravel.
We found that the gravel road was blocked, closed to vehicles because of road repairs. So we walked the mile to the trailhead, not seeing any wildlife. There were plenty of people, though. After a short rest beside the Cataloochee River (Creek), we continued on the wooded trail, walking alongside the river for about a half mile to the first log bridge.
A rock to rest on
Called me. Unexpectedly
Beauty captured me.
About half way back on the gravel road, we spotted a herd of elk which included a large male moving through the field ahead of us. We finally caught up to them, a dozen or more including cows, calves and two young males. Another small herd with its bull was moving away into the next field and was quickly out of sight so we stayed put. We watched the elk and took pictures and video for almost an hour. They didn't disappoint. The bull was very active, bugling and chasing after on or another of the cows. When he was in pursuit, his tongue was out and licking is lips. He never succeeded in mounting one. He chased off the two younger males who he must have thought were getting too close.
For more pictures and video go to https://photos.app.goo.gl/CYseiVkpiqpgVMoP6
On the drive back to the campsite, we passed a great crowd of people on the roadside watching a herd, probably the one we had seen earlier. This herd was very close to the road.
Finally back at our campsite, Bill build a nice fire and we relaxed and enjoyed the fire before supper. I brought a home-made veg-beef soup and corn muffins that just required reheating on the camp stove. We ate by the fire and continued to appreciate its warmth. With no electricity or running water, bedtime was early.
Thursday, October 8
We had a comfortable night, not too cold. Bill turned on the new "Little Buddy" propane heater early in the morning to knock off the chill. It worked great but the new propane coffee maker was a complete bust. it took over an hour to drip a scant cup of coffee and that too strong was not hot. Bill finally got up, braved the chilly morning and started a fire and the camp stove to heat what little coffee we had, diluted to two cups. It was almost 10 by the time we finished breakfast and were were packed and leaving the campsite by 11. We drove back to the school house area where we had seen the elk yesterday, but they were not there. We went searching to the other end of the valley at the Palmer House, but no luck there either. We went through the house and barn. By noon we were back on the gravel switchback on our way up and over the ridge. We pronounced the trip a successful Cataloochee/elk experience.
Friday, October 9
A busy day started with video recording at church. At noon, I went to the LoCo Dem 'headquarters at LC Park to meet Bonnie and work until 2 pm. There were 3 other workers there, all from Tellico Village. One woman had Mississippi Delta roots and MissState car tag. There had been a lot of traffic from 10 am until noon, but after noon we had just one customer.
When we finished, Bonnie and I had Subway sandwiches at her house, then for me a round of grocery, pick up LeRoy at the vet, go by the Matzeks to get his things and tend to the cats and finally home at 4:30. I really hadn't done much physical work, but it seemed tiring nonetheless.
Laura, Mike and Amanda are enjoying a short beach trip to Destin and we are dog/cat sitting. They hope that Hurricane Delta doesn't veer east.
Saturday, October 10
Happy Birthday, Anna!
This day started rainy and continued rainy, not heavy just a steady drip that did not affect our game-watching plans. I spent the morning baking two loaves of banana bread and one pumpkin sourdough loaf. After the breads came out of the oven I put in the chicken wings that had been marinating all morning in a sweet teriyaki sauce. While the wings cooked, I prepared our favorite crunchy cole slaw which I will toss together just before serving.
We got to the Brocks in time for 3:30 kickoff and in the first half the Vols looked really good. Kathy had baba ganoush and bean dip for snacking and I brought veggie sticks to supplement the bread and chips for dipping. At half time, we began our main course of ribs, wings, slaw and caprese salad. The food was great but, unfortunately, the Vols playing was not! They ended up loosing 21-45.
No comments:
Post a Comment